Summer of Passion
by ChiyoTenshi
Summary: It's Summer Break! Mizuki, Nakatsu, and Sano have another year of working with Io, but who helps this year? And who's going to stop by? SanoXMizuki R
1. New workers and a new summer

Hey hey hey! This is my first fanfiction and I'm proud of it! I hope you all like my story, even though i'm not that talented at writing long stories. Hehe, well enough about me, let's get on with the story, shall we? Enjoy!

Disclaimer: ChiyoTenshi does not own Hana-kimi and never will.

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It was summer break for all the school's in Japan, and one of those school's was none other than our very own, Osaka High School! Everybody was looking forward to it because there would be nothing but swimming, going to the beach, hanging out with friends, partying, and traveling, but for Ashiya Mizuki, Sano, and Nakatsu, they were on their way to another year of working at a hotel restaurant with their school doctor Umeda's sister. It was a completely odd situation on how they got their job, but since they didn't want to go home for obvious reasons, they figured it would be better to all stay in a place together for fun and for money. (For more information, see Hana-kimi, volume 3.)

Mizuki had managed to keep her big gender secret from everybody, or so she thinks. While they were at work their previous year, there was a boy that worked there along with Mizuki, Sano and Nakatsu who thought Mizuki was a girl. Ok...he didn't _think_ she was a girl. She really is a girl, but dressing as a guy so she can spend time with Sano, and he just saw through her disguise. In the end, Io, Umeda's sister and Mizuki's boss, assured that Mizuki was indeed a boy, even though she did know the truth and the boy was fired.

However, this year was going to be much more fun because it was the three of them, and along with them were Sekime, Noe, Kayashima (the boy who can see aura's), and Nakao. They all managed to get used to eachother's company quite well from spending so much time with eachother on the school trip, so they decided to get a job for themselves, which was a smart idea for teenagers, considering that most would just sit at home and watch tv while eating chips and drinking soda.

The drive to the restaurant was quite noisy because Sekime and Noe were sticking their heads out the windows and flirting with the girls in the neighboring vehicles. Mizuki, who is our main character, sat between Nakatsu and Sano. Before Osaka High went on their school trip, Nakatsu had managed to confess his love to Mizuki in front of a huge crowd. Obviously, he didn't care.

Sano, on the other hand, wanted to keep quiet so he could stay close to Mizuki while she was in Japan. He knew her secret since a little after she arrived at Osaka High, and he didn't want to suspend her from the school because he wasn't that mean of a guy, and also because he didn't know what she was really doing in the school in the first place.

Kayashima was busy telling Nakatsu about his aura color changes. He was changing between clear red, blue, and pink. (go online and look up "aura colors and meanings" and click the first site) The whole while, he was trying to get Mizuki to help him from being tortured about his aura. Mizuki just laughed and played along with Kayashima. Sano just watched and snickered a bit, but never laughed loudly.

Io was driving the car, and talking to her was the old school idol, but since Mizuki arrived, Nakao was after Mizuki, which made him mad at first, but he then got to know Mizuki and understand eachother, so he forgave her. Io and Nakao shared their thoughts about keeping their faces clean and smooth, which was not a big conversation that a normal guy would deal with.

Anyways, back to summer break. The car was noisy, and so were the occupants of it. It took atleast two hours to reach the hotel, but then again, it didn't seem that long because everybody was either talking or having too much fun to pay attention to the time. Once reaching their destination, they piled out of the car, trying to stretch their sore and tense muscles.

"Ahh, I thought I would get a blood clot if I stayed in there any longer," Mizuki said as she massaged her muscles. She then stood at her full height and glanced at the sky while covering her eyes from the sun. "It looks like it's going to be a good day, eh?"

"Yup. I'd say it's the best day to go swimming," grinned Nakatsu.

"No! I can't go swimming. It would ruin my perfect skin!" Nakao cried in agony. "Even the sun would crack my skin. It's not tolerable."

Io stood there in front of the trunk of her car, looking through the luggage. "I agree. We're not going to the beach until Sunday because the restaurant is closed on Sunday and also because it's supposed to be warmer that day, and perfect weather for swimming."

"Grr..." Nakatsu growled in anger. All he wanted to do was have fun, spend some time with Mizuki, and see Mizuki in a swimsuit, but that would never happen, unless he found out her secret.

Sano started dragging the luggage bags from the trunk into the restaurant. He set everything by a table near the hallway that lead to the workers' bedrooms. The bad part about the restaurant was that there were only four rooms. One for Io and three for workers. Everybody helped with the luggage and cleaned out the trunk before it was closed again. Everybody then met for a meeting in the dining area and waited for Io to tell the new workers the rules of the restaurant. Once finding out that there weren't enough rooms for everybody, they decided to split up. In the first room was Sano, Mizuki, and Nakao, in the second was Nakatsu and Kayashima, and in the third was Sekime and Noe. They split up the way they did because they were so used to being partnered up with their dormmates from school, although Nakao's roommate wasn't there, he just shared Mizuki and Sano's room.

After the meeting, if that, they all headed towards their rooms, picking what bunk or bed they wanted, and laid out their bedding accessories. Mizuki had the top bunk of one bed, and under her was Sano. There was another bunk in their room, so Nakao slept on the top so he could talk to Mizuki. The other rooms only had one bunk bed each, so each person either got the bottom or the top.

When the situating and choosing was done, they all met back in the dining room so the new workers could tour the place while the returning workers, meaning Mizuki, Sano, and Nakatsu, looked around and had some free time. Io then took Nakao, Sekime, Noe, and Kayashima through the kitchen, dish area, around the restaurant, and the dining room. Each table had their own number, so she had to make sure that they knew which table was numbered which number.

"Wow. It seems like I've been gone from here forever. Not much has changed except the layout of the tables in the dining room and the flowering outside the restaurant," she smiled as she looked at the flowers.

Sano ruffled Mizuki's hair and smiled to her. "It's good to be back, isn't it?"

Mizuki could feel her cheek's temperature rising and she quickly nodded before shooing his hand from her head. "It is, but you can quit treating me like a kid."

"Hey, let's go for a walk. It'll give us something to do with the extra time that we have," Nakatsu suggested.

"Yeah! I could use the excercise. I feel like I haven't stood for days." She groaned a bit and they started towards a trail that lead to the beach and through a forest. It was a beautiful trail, and was great for couples. Nakatsu daydreamed about taking Mizuki on this trail, just the two of them, but Sano was with them, so his mood was quickly shot down.

Mizuki noticed this and looked up at him. "Hey, what's wrong, Nakatsu?"

Nakatsu then turned to her, and through his vision, he saw her/him surrounded by sparkles and lights that made her beatiful. He couldn't help but blush a crimson red and turn away. "N-no. It's nothing," he stuttered.

Sano, who was with them the whole time, saw Nakatsu's expression and thought the same thing when he and Mizuki found eachother in the mineral spring back during the school trip. It was quite embarassing, and he still couldn't get that accident out of his head.

After about an hour walk from the restaurant, to the beach, through the forest, and back to the restaurant, the were greeted by the rest of the crew. Mizuki then noticed that something was up, because everybody was smiling, especially Sekime and Noe. She crossed her arms and looked to Sekime questionably. "Hey, what's up? Why is everybody so happy, you guys especially?"

Noe and Sekime glanced at eachother happily, and then turned back to Mizuki. "You know your american friend, um, what's her name? Julia? Well, you'll never believe this!" Noe said all giddy.

Mizuki just stood there with her eyes just a bit wider than normal, wondering if something had happened to Julia. "What? What about Julia? Is she hurt? Did she go back to America?"

Sekime and Noe looked at eachother once again before joining hands and grinning extremely big grins. "Nothing happened to Julia, of course. She's going to be spending a weekend here with some of her school friends!" Noe and Sekime squealed.

Nakatsu was the first to have a different expression on his face. Just the mentioning of that american's name gave him convulsions. His face was ouch of the ordinary, meaning his mouth was wide open, his eyes were wide with fear, and his nose twitched as her name was said again.

"Yup! Julia's going to be here in three days (considering it was a Tuesday) and she's going to bring 5 of her school friends! Isn't that just awesome!" Noe and Sekime continued to dance around the parking lot all happy, while Nakatsu was standing there with his face telling his emotion.

Io was happy to have more customers, especially her younger sister, Rio, visiting for a change. Nakao was happy because he is going to meet Minami's younger sister. How he knew that Rio was his younger sister has all to do with Mizuki. Obviously she couldn't keep a secret for very long, and since Nakao had a huge crush on Minami, Mizuki couldn't help but not tell him about Minami's family. Sano didn't really mind the american girl, Julia, but due to some slight thinking, since Julia told the guys that her and Mizuki were dating, Sano thought that they were lesbians, because he knows that Mizuki is a girl. Altogether, everybody was happy except Nakatsu, of course.

Mizuki was joining Sekime and Noe in their big dance of joy. Nakatsu was left standing next to Sano, wondering if this was all true.

'I don't think this is going to go well,' Sano thought to himself.

Once calming down from the big surprise, everybody went inside to get something to eat. It was already 6:30, and they haven't even started making supper.

"I want Ishikari salmon over rice!" Nakatsu expclaimed.

"We want lamb from Hokkaido!" Noe and Sekime pleaded desperately.

"How about Miso cha-shu?" Kayashima asked.

"I want corn ramen," Sano said.

Io shook off all the ideas and winked. "I've got a big surprise. You'll all wish you wanted my food rather than anybody elses. Right, guys?" By "guys" she meant Mizuki, Sano and Nakatsu, who nodded in agreement to her.

She then exited the room, heading towards the kitchen, leaving everybody else in the dining room, discussing their plans for the weekend and the time being here. They planned on spending the next month or so there, atleast until school started again.

"Ok, Sano, Nakatsu and I'll take care of the silverware, napkins, and the dishes. Nakao and Kayashima will take orders from guests dining in the restaurant, and Sekime and Noe will take room service orders to the rooms. Meanwhile, Io will be cooking, and if she needs help from anybody, you better be sure to help her, otherwise our restaurant is going to get a bad reputation. Agreed?"

With that said, everybody nodded and agreed to Mizuki's speech of conditions. After a couple more minutes of waiting for Io to return with some food, their eyes were set upon the biggest feast anybody could possibly imagine to have in a restaurant as unpublicized as Io's. For, before them, lay a mountain of domburi with beef topping, cooked ramen with a choice of chicken, pork, oriental, and fish flavored seasonings, yakizakana (cooked fish), shabu-shabu (meat fondue), yakitori (grilled chicken on skewers), and gyoza.

Everybody in the room drooled over the food, excluding Sano who sat there perfectly still, just admiring the food from a normal posture and expression. Although he looked at the food differently, he thought the same as the others.

'Wow, that looks good...' everybody thought, including Sano this time.

Io smiled, happy that everybody was waiting to just dive into the food itself. The smell of the food is what aroused them the most. It was a smell that I cannot explain in this very story because I am not talented to describe smells or tastes.

Nakatsu drooled as he spoke to Io with his chopsticks in his hand, ready to chow down. "Io, can we eat yet?"

Io looked at everybody, who looked back at her with puppy dog eyes, except Sano who just sat there with no expression, just looking at Io. She couldn't resist such cute, or in Sano's case, sexy, looks. "Of course. I made this food especially for you. You're my helpers after all." With that said, everybody took their chopsticks, and started in, working from one end of the feast to the other.

"I can't believe this. I've never had a big meal or a choice this big before. It's like I'm a god," Mizuki announced while piling her plate with her choices.

While she said that, nobody was paying attention because they were lost in their own worlds. Even Sano was daydreaming about having more food, because just the look on his face made everybody wonder if he was ok. His cheeks were flushed a cherry red, and he was smiling a cute and enjoyable smile that any girl would love to see every morning. Mizuki tapped his shoulder slightly, trying to pry him from his hallucination, but failed miserably. "I guess we have to do the dishes without Sano," Nakao laughed along with everybody else at the table.

Dinner was great, and even Io enjoyed her own cooking. The dishes were done by the new workers, and the cleaning was performed by the others. Once everything was set, they were off to bed, since tomorrow was their first day of working.

Mizuki climbed into her bed while Sano sat on his and Nakao took a shower down the hall. "Hey, Sano?"

"Yeah?" Sano asked, curious of what she had to say.

"Do you want to watch a show on the 3.2 liquid crystal tv that I bought a couple months ago?"

"Let me guess...another horror movie?" Sano asked, and guessed he was right.

Mizuki laughed and hung upside down from her bunk, looking at Sano. "How'd you guess? Geez. Sometimes I think you and Kayashima are related somehow," she laughed and sweatdropped, hoping he wasn't like that.

"Well, maybe. Anyways, sure. I'll watch it with you. I'm not tired right now anyways."

"Okay. Do you mind if I watch it down there with you? There's not much room up here," she asked while getting her pillow from her bed and started climbing down the ladder to her bunk.

Sano sighed and nodded a bit. "Sure. Hurry up before you miss the show, otherwise you'll be confused the whole time."

"Okay, okay. I'm hurrying!" she exclaimed as she jumped beside him in the bed and set the movie on a shelf just in front of the bed. "Can you see it ok?"

Sano smiled and reffled her hair again like earlier. "No. You're big head is in the way," he joked.

"Hey! I don't have a big head!" Mizuki yelled, upset that he called her head big.

"Okay fine, but turn on the tv before we miss it."

Mizuki did what Sano said, and turned on the tv. The first 15 minutes they were watching the show, Nakao finished his shower, dried off, changed into his pajamas, and walked back to the room. When he walked into the room, all he saw was Sano and Mizuki in the same bed, looking at something together. Their gazes shot from the tv to Nakao, who stared at them in shock.

"Mi...Mizuki...why are you guys in the s-same bed?" Nakao stuttered.

Mizuki laughed and smiled an odd smile. "Oh, we were watching a scary movie, and I don't like watching them by myself, so Sano insisted that he wanted to watch it with me."

When she said that, Sano thought 'I insisted on watching it? Wait...I thought I wanted to watch it because I couldn't sleep.'

"Er...o-okay. If you say so." With that said, Nakao climbed into his bunk, covered himself with his blanket and fell asleep, or so they thought he did.

They both looked at eachother and shrugged a bit, then turned back to the tv.

A little more than halfway through the movie, Mizuki let out a soft yawn. It wasn't a boredom kind of yawn, but a tired yawn.

"Why don't you go to bed, Ashiya? You need the sleep for work tomorrow," Sano explained.

Mizuki nodded and stared at the screen and then stood from the bed, taking her pillow with her. "Do you want to watch the rest of it?"

Sano shook his head and turned off the tv. "I'm fine. I think I'm going to go to bed, too." Sano then shuffled around in his bed, trying to find a comfortable spot. He then fell asleep within seconds, while Mizuki put her pillow back on her bed and changed into her pajamas. When she returned, she saw a sleeping Sano. From her point of view, he looked so innocent and pure. Like it's never been touched or hurt before.

She admired him for a bit and then reached for her liquid crystal tv, but was stopped and changed course. Instead of grabbing the tv, she was grabbed by somebody from behind and pulled onto a cushion of softness. She couldn't see who it was for a second, but whoever the person was, they were holding her tight, not letting her go, and nuzzled her neck softly. Once the grip loosened, she turned around and came face to face with a familiar figure staring at her.

"Sano...?"

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That's it for the first chapter! I finished it within...6 hours. Ain't that totally awesome? I didn't think that I could write a huge chapter like this in that short a time. I guess I'm talented for writing after all.

Well, I'm hoping to finish the next chapter soon. Maybe, if I'm not that busy tomorrow, I'll work on it then. I hope you all enjoyed it.

Oh, and another thing. I would like some reviews, if you don't mind. Please tell me what you think about my story and what you think I could change, if anything. Thanks for all the help, and I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.


	2. Jealousy?

Chiyo: Hey! I'm back with another chapter! Thanks for a few replies and everything. I really needed the help. I'll try to explain the plot and stuff in this next chapter, so sorry about that.

Chiyo's Sis: Will you get on with the story? I want to read more about Mizuki and Sano!

Chiyo: Okay, okay! Sheesh, gotta love twins, right? Ok, disclaimer, please do the honors.

Disclaimer: ChiyoTenshi does not own Hana-kimi, and will continue to live without owning it.

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Previously...

She admired him for a bit and then reached for her liquid crystal tv, but was stopped and changed course. Instead of grabbing the tv, she was grabbed by somebody from behind and pulled onto a cushion of softness. She couldn't see who it was for a second, but whoever the person was, they were holding her tight, not letting her go, and nuzzled her neck softly. Once the grip loosened, she turned around and came face to face with a familiar figure staring at her.

"Sano...?"

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Mizuki stared, wide-eyed at the confused looking Sano, who lay beside her on the bottom bunk. Her cheeks flushed a bright, crimson red, and before she could do anything, she noticed that he was sleeping with his eyes open again, and, at the same time, having a so-called "nightmare."

'This is my chance. I hope he didn't do that on purpose. That would be embarassing...' she thought.

She leaned upward in his bunk, and stood up, before turning back to him. She bent over a bit, and after staring at his face with a smile, she placed a light, and loving kiss on his cheek. He then moved around some more in his bed, and then settled down, still facing towards Mizuki. Letting out a small laugh, she turned to the shelf to grab her tv, and put it in her bag just at the end of her bed.

She then climbed into her bed, trying not to make so much noise when she laid down, since the bunks were old and rusty, and made a squeaking sound when something pushed down on it. She thought about all that's happened the first day back at the restuarant, and soon, she fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Sano was laying in his bed, staring up at the bottom of the top bunk. When Mizuki placed that kiss on his cheek, Sano happened to be awake and notice what she did, but he didn't want to upset her in any way, so he pretended to be asleep. After a bit of thinking, he fell asleep.

The next day, Mizuki woke up with the brightness of the sun shining in her face. She mumbled some things, and then pulled the pillow over her head, trying to hide herself from the light and also from the noise in the hallway. Apparently, everybody else was wide awake, except for Mizuki and Sano, who had happened to stay up late last night and cause them to sleep in the next morning.

Nakao came, barging through the doorway, yelling at the top of his lungs as if he lost a beauty contest, again. "Mizuki! Izumi! Get your butts up! It's time to work, and you better get up now before I get Io! Otherwise you'll be sorry! We have a whole load of reservations for the kitchen today, so we need your help getting the silverware and plates ready! Are you even listening to me!" Nakao yelled up into Mizuki's pillow, making her jump up and hit the ceiling, making her fall back down and rub her head in pain.

"Okay, okay! I'm up. Sorry Nakao. What time is it?" she asked, looking around for her egg clock that she used for school.

Nakao sweatdropped and pointed to a clock on the wall near the door. "It's quarter to 11, and if you think that's too early, forget it! Get up!"

Mizuki sighed loudly with a yawn of tiredness and stepped down from her bed. She then glanced to Sano, who was sitting on the edge of his bed, trying to rub the tiredness from his eyes. Her cheeks flushed a light pink, and, noticing this, quickly turned away towards the bathroom to change.

After getting into her work clothes, she hustled out the bathroom and to the kitchen, grabbing her apron and washing her hands. Her first job was to ready some of the napkins, so they didn't look messy or unarranged in any way. Her second chore, if that, was to put silverware and cups on the tables, so when the customers came, their silverware and cups would be ready for drinks and their food.

"I have a feeling that today is going to be a long day," Mizuki complained as she set out some silverware with Sano while Nakatsu cleaned some dishes leftover from the previous night.

Sano nodded a bit, still too tired to fully answer her thought. "Yup."

Noticing his movement, she continued to set out the silverware, but still talked to him. "Are you still tired? Maybe you should go hit the hay for an hour or so, just to catch up for later. It's supposed to be busy, so you'll need it," she suggested.

He shook his head and smiled a little. "Do you think I'm that dumb?" he asked, and ruffled Mizuki's hair again. "It's ok. I can deal with a little less sleep than normal. I'll just remember to go to bed early tonight, okay?"

Mizuki blushed again and growled under her breath and gave him a daring look. She then let out a small smile, knowing that he really was thinking more about getting sleep than getting his work done because once he turned around from Mizuki, he happened to wabble through the dining room, scaring the customers and leaving them to wonder if he was okay.

A couple minutes passed, and Mizuki continued setting new silverware and cups on the open tables for the next reservationas and walk-ins while Nakao and Kayashima took the orders and .Nakatsu did the same on the other side of the dining room and Sano brought the silverware and cups from the kitchen to give to Mizuki and Nakatsu. Meanwhile, Sano was having troubles standing up straight, and when he was heading towards a table, he seemed to have lost his balance and fell over on Mizuki.

Being the big scene of the morning, Mizuki was left, stunned, on the floor underneath the helpless, and confused Sano.

Everybody stood from their chairs and crowded around the "couple" to see what happened, and all Mizuki could do were blush and try to get Sano off of her.

"S-sano? What's wrong with you? Get off me! You're making a scene," Mizuki cried, trying to get all the customers to stop staring at them.

All that came from Sano's mouth was: "I'm okay." Mizuki, not believing what he said, pushed Sano to her side so she could stand up. She then got some help from a customer, and a handsome one, at that to bring him to their room.

"Can I help you? I think I can hold his left side if you get his right. It's the least I can do," the customer pleaded.

Mizuki stood there, and quickly held onto Sano's side, with a slight blush across her face. She then smiled to the customer. "Thank you so much. I don't know what I would've done without you. Not many of the other customers would've done the same thing, I'm sure."

The customer laughed a bit, and Mizuki blushed a little more. He had longer, brown hair, brown eyes, and was about 5'11", just the right height for a guy that looked as good as he did. Of course, his looks couldn't compare to Sano in Mizuki's mind.

Upon reaching the "dormatory" hallway, they slowly prodded into their room, setting Sano on his bunk and making sure to not hit his head on the bottom of the top bunk.

Mizuki let out a loud sigh of relief and then turned to the customer again before bowing in appreciation. "I thank you again. I don't know what I can do to repay you."

The customer shook his hands and head, signaling that he didn't want anything in return. "No, no. That's okay. I'm fine the way I am. I don't need anything in return at all. My name is Lloyd, and a friend of Io's, so I don't think I need anything but Io's cooking," he laughed.

"Io's friend? I didn't know...she never really speaks about her friends much, so I guess I can see that with her looks and popular food, she must have plenty of friends," Mizuki replied with a laugh. "I'm Ashiya Mizuki, and I work for Io, and her brother is my school doctor."

As they spoke to eachother, Sano was left on the bed, basically sound asleep since he was so tired during work. Mizuki put one of her hands on his forehead and her other on her own to take his temperature.

"He's got a small feve, but nothing real serious. I'll go get a cold cloth." She ran to the bathroom, rinsed a cloth in cold water, and then jolted back into the room, setting the cloth on his head, trying to cool his fever.

"So you're a student, eh? Well, we don't have that many workers who are students around this part. Most of them usually go partying every night and don't have time to work. Anyways, you kids must be very lucky to get free food from Miss Io. I wish I could get a job like that," he sighed a bit.

Mizuki smiled. "Well, you can get a job here. Once school starts again for us, we're going back and won't have much free time, especially for work, so we won't be back until the next summer. Maybe I could ask Io if you could get a job here while we're gone," she suggested.

"Would you? I would greatly appreciate that," he begged.

"Of course. If a customer is in need of something, I try to do my best to help them and give them what they want." She continued to stroke Sano's face softly with the cold, wet cloth to try to lower his fever, which worked in a matter of minutes.

"Well, I should be getting back to my date. I wouldn't want to get dumped because I helped out a waitor of ours. That'd be the last thing I would want," he laughed.

Mizuki smiled and watched him leave. "Thanks again for the help. I'll tell Io that you stopped by. Oh! And could you shut the door on the way out? I wouldn't want the loud people and music to wake him and make him crabby for tonight's service."

Lloyd smiled and shut the door behind him as he left. After watching the door close, she turned her attention towards Sano, wondering if his fever has gone down. She repeated her fever-test, and it concluded that the cloth had helped a bit, which made her let out a sigh of relief. She then rubbed his cheek softly, wishing she could do this when he was awake and in front of her friends.

"Sano...get some sleep. I need to get back to work, otherwise Nakatsu will get mad at me because he's doing all the work," she whispered.

During their little dilema and soap opera, Nakatsu had been rushing from table to table, setting more and more silverware and cups, and taking the money and tips from the customers that had already eaten. 'Where are they? I'm being rushed more than anybody here!' he yelled in his head as he continued to run from table to table.

Back to Sano and Mizuki, as she finished her whisper, she stood and headed towards the door. Once reaching it, she opened it slowly, trying to make the smallest amount of noise as possible, but was caught. Before she left the room, she took one last glance at Sano, lying on his bed, but was surprised to see a pair of grayish-black eyes staring back at her. She smiled and whispered "Get some rest otherwise I'll get really mad." She then waved, and closed the door behind her.

The next hour and a half of working was harder on Mizuki because Sano was sick, but easier on Nakatsu because he now had help after a half hour of non-stop running errands. When the restaurant was not as busy, Nakatsu and Mizuki took some time to talk to eachother about what happened earlier.

"What happened to Sano? Did he fall asleep and sleep walk around the diner?" Nakatsu asked.

Mizuki laughed and shook her head. "No. He seemed to have caught a small fever and got dizzy before falling on top of me in front of a whole crowd. It was kind of embarrassing, if you ask me," she laughed with a blush, remembering him on top of her.

In Nakatsu's mind, he began to imagine some very odd images. Some consisted of Sano on top of Mizuki as if he was going to do something to her. Another was Sano on top of Mizuki, kissing her. The last was Sano on top of her because he was tired. All of them made his veins pop out and make his anger scale shoot past extremely angry. "D-did you say he fell on top of you?"

Mizuki laughed and scratched her head a little in embarrassment. "Well, yeah, he did. I didn't notice he had a fever until a customer helped me carry him back to our room. I helped decrease his fever a bit, so if he gets a little more rest, he should be fine by tonight."

"Okay. I'm just glad that you'll be okay for tonight. We really need your cheerfulness to bring in more customers," he said, trying to hide his feelings that he was actually happy that Sano didn't do anything to her, or in his mind, to him.

"Don't worry. I won't cut work for anything, except if Sano really needs the help, I'll aid him as much as I can until he gets better. That's a fact," she said as if it were a goal for her life.

Nakatsu sweatdropped and wished that he were the one who was sick and lying in bed. He imagined Mizuki bringing him his food all the time, and washing his body, and lowering his fever in whatever ways he thought, which I cannot explain because it is too difficult for my status.

Seeing that there weren't that many customers, Mizuki thought that this would be the best time to go tell Io about her encounter with one of her friends. She was shocked to know that he wanted a job at her place while Mizuki and her friends went back to school, and she decided to call him once she got done with work.

"Thanks, Ashiya. If I knew that he was eating in my restaurant, I would've went to talk to him myself, but I guess I got a little too busy at the time to talk to my friends," Io sighed, watching some of her food cook and sizzle on the frying pan.

Mizuki smiled and laughed slightly. "Well, I didn't even know he was one of your friends at first. I guess you never know until you meet them, right?"

Io smiled back to her and started flipping food from her pan to a plate. "Can we talk about it more later, Ashiya dear? It's getting a little more busy now, okay?"

Mizuki nodded and walked out of the kitchen. "Of course.If Nakatsu is looking for me, tell him I'm checking on Sano for a little bit, okay? Thanks."

Io nodded and continued to go from pans to oven to plates and back to the pans.

Mizuki tip-toed to her room and knocked softly before opening the door, revealing a sleeping Sano. She closed the door behind her again to keep the loud customers and music outside the room. Her walk towards Sano seemed to last forever, but when she finally reached his side, she lay her hand on his forehead softly, checking his temperature once again. It seemed to have gone down quite a bit, and he wasn't sweating as much as he was before.

After letting a small sigh of relief, she then laid down on his bed beside him, cuddling into his arms. His smell really relaxed her, and she seemed so happy, atleast with the look on her face. She leaned up a bit and placed a light kiss on his chin, just a tab bit closer to his lips than her last one. At that very moment, the door opened and there, standing in the doorway was a shocked and disappointed Nakatsu.

Mizuki jumped at his entrance and looked at him a little scared, wondering if he suspected something. He glared back at her, but his main gaze was at Sano, who lay there, sound asleep. His arms were around her, and she was tight against him, which made Nakatsu even more angry.

"Nakatsu? Hey! It's not what you think!" she tried not to yell. Before she could finish, Nakatsu had left the room and went to his own, slamming the door behind him. Mizuki looked up at Sano, scared to think about what Nakatsu would say to her, and, even worse, what she would say to Nakatsu.

'What have I gotten myself into this time?' she wondered to herself.

* * *

Chiyo: Done! My second chappie is totally done! I took a little more time to write things, but I hope it's a little better.

Chiyo's Sis: Do you always have to make things so descriptive?

Chiyo: Yes

Chiyo's Sis: Well...don't! I hate descriptive things!

Chiyo: Well, deal with it! This is my story, and you don't like my stories anyways, so stop reading it!

Anways, I hope you enjoyed this chappie. My next one should be out soon, so just wait a little bit longer.

I'd also like a couple more reviews. I'm shooting for at least 8, if that. Thanks for all the help!


	3. The devil's have arrived

Chiyo: YAY! I didn't get all the reviews I wanted, but I guess I got more than 0, which is good, right?

Chiyo's Sis: Stop babbling. Why can't you just get on with the story?

SetosGirl: Yeah! We want to know what happens to Mizuki. Did she get in trouble! Is Nakatsu jealous? Was Sano awake during all this?

RandomGuyThatBreakDancesOutsideAMajorPublicBuilding: Just get on with it!

Chiyo: Okay, okay. Who wants to do the honors?

All But Chiyo: ChiyoTenshi does not own Hana-kimi, but due to her lack of drawing skills and ideas, she will probably continue to live without it.

Chiyo: What a coincidence...

* * *

Previously...

Mizuki jumped at his entrance and looked at him a little scared, wondering if he suspected something. He glared back at her, but his main gaze was at Sano, who lay there, sound asleep. His arms were around her, and she was tight against him, which made Nakatsu even more angry.

"Nakatsu? Hey! It's not what you think!" she tried not to yell. Before she could finish, Nakatsu had left the room and went to his own, slamming the door behind him. Mizuki looked up at Sano, scared to think about what Nakatsu would say to her, and, even worse, what she would say to Nakatsu.

_'What have I gotten myself into this time?'_ she wondered to herself.

* * *

Mizuki jumped from the bed and quickly started towards Nakatsu after closing the door to their room, trying not to wake Sano. She jogged to Nakatsu's room and knocked on the door softly, hoping he would answer the door or talk to her. All the while, Sano slept in his room soundly, not knowing whats going on in the real world.

"Hey, Nakatsu?" she started. There was then a small pause before she continued. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or anything." After a couple moments of waiting for an answer, nothing happened, and she kept talking. "I was just checking on him, and then all of a sudden, he grabbed me and pulled me close to him. I tried to get away from him, but I couldn't wake him up," she lied in a clever way.

Nothing was heard from the other side of the door. Not even the smallest sound emitted from the room. Mizuki thought she did a bad thing, and knowing that lying to one of her best friends wasn't a good idea, so she sat beside the door, waiting for him to open it. "I'll stay here until you forgive me," she said, sadly.

A few hours passed, and it was nearing the time for the reservations to dine in the restaurant. Not moving an inch, Mizuki kept her spot, continuing to wait for Nakatsu to walk out of the room with a big, forgivefull smile on his face, but as time went on, nothing happened.

There was only 15 minutes until the first reservation would arrive, so the dish and silverware people, including Sano who was sick, Nakatsu who was upset, and Mizuki who was trying to fix a problem, were all preoccupied with their current situations and problems that they didn't think about their job until Nakao walked to Mizuki and tapped her shoulder. She jumped and looked up at him with a scared and confused look.

Nakao stood there, looking down at Mizuki, wondering if something had happened. "What's wrong? Why are you sitting in front of Nakatsu and Kayashima's door?" he asked.

Mizuki sighed softly and began to speak while looking at the ground. "I guess I hurt Nakatsu's feeling somehow. I won't move until he comes out. I won't eat a bite until he forgives me. I won't do anything until I see that he'll be my friend again," she cried, and wiped her tears away before they were noticed and she began another scene.

Being the most confused person already, Nakao knelt down beside her and hugged her. "Hey. Why don't you just help us out for a little bit. Maybe it will help you give Nakatsu some time to think about what's happened and what you can say to make him feel better. It's a good idea right? Of course it's a good idea. It's mine, after all," Nakao laughed and helped Mizuki stand up. He then escorted her to the kitchen to start bringing the cups and silverware to the tables for the reservations.

Nakao and Kayashima continued to take orders from the current diners, Io continued to cook for the diners, Sano dreampt about things other than the diners, and Mizuki and Nakatsu thought about what had happened. During their whole dilema, nobody realized that there was even a problem with Mizuki since she was acting as happy as she would be as if she were at school and just passed an english test. The first question came from Io as she was grabbing some silverware from the dishwasher next to the oven in the kitchen.

"Is something on your mind? You seem to be lost in thought," Io questioned.

Mizuki looked at Io as if she had seen a ghost and quickly replied with a slight shake of the head and a muffled "no."

She finished bringing the silverware and cups to each table, and when she was going to check-up on Sano, she saw a taller figure leaning against the wall beside her door. Her body stiffened a bit, and gulped, not really knowing what to say to make him feel better. She really didn't mean what happened earlier, even though it was her fault, but she couldn't tell her best friend that she was in love with Sano since she knew that Nakatsu didn't know that she was in fact a girl.

It took a while to make it to the door, but upon reaching it, she reached for the knob to the door but her wrist was grabbed by Nakatsu's hand. She looked at Nakatsu, a little scared, still not knowing what to do or say, and all she could do was try to get Nakatsu's grip to loosen. "Nakatsu! Stop! That hurts!" she yelled, but not too loud.

Almost as if he were hypnotized, his grip had released her wrist and he pulled his hand back before looking at the ground. "I...I'm sorry about earlier. I guess...I misjudged something, and I was so upset, I just couldn't bring myself to listen to what you had to say." He stared at the ground, wondering if she would forgive him for making this assumption.

A happy smile appeared on Mizuki's and she wrapped her arms around him in a friendly hug, but to Nakatsu, he thought it was a love hug. A blush appeared on his face, and he calmly put his arms around her as well. A few moments passed, and just as they were pulling away, the door opened to Mizuki's room. For there, in the doorway, stood a tall figure with dark hair and grayish-black eyes staring at them. Their arms werw around eachothers waists and they were just looking at eachother as if they were going to kiss.

Mizuki jerked her head in his direction and smiled, knowing that he was doing better than before. "Hey, Sano. I was just about to check on you. How are you feeling?" she asked.

Sano, confused as he was, looked at Nakatsu with almost a deadly glare, wondering if he was trying something on Mizuki. He then ruffled Mizuki's hair and smiled down to her. "I'm doing fine, now. Thanks for the help," he replied.

"Mizuki! Sano! Nakatsu! We need more silverware on tables 4, 7, 8, and 13 pronto!" yelled Nakao from the kitchen.

The three of them looked at eachother and smiled, knowing that everything was going to be ok.

The night went by like a dog shedding hair, or in simpler words, fast. Each reservation and walk-in ordered their food, ate it, got desert and left, leaving no trail that they even dined in such a magnificent place. When the restaurant finally closed, all the workers gathered for a meeting in the dining room at a larger table that was suited for a large party.

"Okay. Great job today, everybody. I think we made a great impression for the customers, and I hope this keeps up. I hear that we had a couple set-backs, but nothing major. I expect to hear about everything from those who have anthing to do with them, okay?" Io asked.

"Yes, Io," everyone replied, knowing that if they didn't, they would be smashed into the ground so far that they'd be so close to being in Africa itself.

"Good. I will be in my room, and everybody that had something to do with the set-back, I want you to report to my room as soon as you finish cleaning."

After the agreement between the workers and the chef, everybody split to do their chores for cleaning the restaurant. Once finishing, the only people that went to Io's room were Nakatsu, Mizuki and Sano. The others showered and went to bed for the night.

Sano looked at the clock as he entered and yawned to himself. _'Hmm, 10:25 already? I must've got too much sleep, but I'm still tired.'_

All three of them sat on a bench that was located across the room from Io's bed and bathroom. Io sat on her bed, waiting for the first to speak of what happened.

Mizuki started. "Okay. We were working out in the dining area, and all of a sudden, Sano got a fever and fell on top of me. A customer helped me bring him back to our room. As I was checking his temperature, he seemed to have grabbed me in his sleep. At that time, Nakatsu walked into the room and misjudged us on what happened. After that, I explained everything to him while he locked himself in his room, but then he came to appologize, so everything's good now."

Io looked at Sano and Nakatsu who nodded in agreement to what she had to say. Nakatsu didn't want to make Io hurt him again because he thought something else, and Sano didn't want to disagree because he didn't really know what actually happened since he was asleep most of the time.

With a shrug and a sigh, she smiled and motioned for them to go to bed. "Okay. That will be all for the night. If you need anything or have any questions about anything, please see me. That is one of the reasons why I am here."

Everybody smiled and nodded as they returned to their own rooms. Being greeted by their roommates, they showered before turning into bed. Mizuki thought about what had happened earlier with her and Sano before Nakatsu had barged into the room.

_'If Nakatsu didn't walk in like he did, Sano might have woken up and seen that. He might've thought that I was sleeping with him, and he probably would hate me for the rest of my life!'_ she thought, but shook the frightening thought from her head.

At the same time, Sano lay in his bed, staring up at Mizuki's bunk, wondering some things of his own. _'Did all she said happened really happen? Maybe because I was asleep, I didn't know, so I shouldn't assume things. And what were Nakatsu and Mizuki doing outside the room before I walked out? This can't be good.'_

In Nakatsu's room, he also thought some things. _'I will make Mizuki mine! Mine mine and only mine! Sano doesn't deserve a guy like Mizuki more than me. He will be sorry he even laid a finger on my Mizuki!'_ He thought back to the hug that he received from Mizuki earlier after realizing that Nakatsu had forgiven her for whatever she had done. _'Ahh, the good times...'_

Night fell, and day rose. Each morning she felt more tired than the day before. Maybe it was because she couldn't sleep very much, or maybe because she was always like that but she never really noticed.

She wiped her eyes from her tiredness and descended the ladder to go to the bathroom and change. Meanwhile, Sano just woke up, following Nakao, and dressed in the main room. After a couple minutes of making sure that their room was clean and they had everything they needed for work, they headed to the dining area to meet with the other workers.

"Okay, everyone! Today is going to be a slow day. There are only 4 reservations for tonight and most thursday nights we don't get many customers. Most of them go to restaurants more in town, so we can work easily today," Io explained.

Everybody cheered in excitement knowing that today they could take it easy and relax for the next day. Apparently, Julia and some of her friends were going to stop by and spend the weekend there. Mizuki wanted to make the place look clean for her friend Julia, Sano wanted to make it look clean for Io and Mizuki, Nakatsu didn't want to make it clean because he hated the american girl, Sekime and Noe wanted to make it extra clean for the girls, Io wanted to make it clean for herself and her customers, Nakao wanted to make it clean because he likes clean things, and Kayashima didn't care what happened. Either way, he saw ghosts whether the place was clean or not.

After the meeting about the day, everybody split into their groups to start their working and cleaning for the morning customers. By the time a couple people walked in, everybody had been so tired of waiting that some of them fell asleep on some tables. Once somebody realized that some people had come for breakfast, everybody snapped awake and went back into the kitchen so the customers didn't think badly of the place because the workers were sleeping on the job.

Nakao went to the table of three, one girl and two boys, and took their order. Almost immediately, Io started cooking. (I'm not going to explain everything that they're eating because I'm not good at describing food, obviously)

As the hours passed, customers came and went, and it was relaxing to have some free time from the dining area so the group could talk about their hard day of work the previous day. Sekime and Noe had a hard day running around the hotel bringing people's room service and while also collecting the empty dishes. Nakao and Kayashima worked pretty hard to get all the orders and not mess them up with other tables, but with their work, nothing was wrong. When it came time for Mizuki, Sano, and Nakatsu to tell their story, everybody listened extremely close, except Sano and Nakatsu, since they already knew the story.

After finishing it, more customers came, so Kayashima went to take their orders. It was a couple that looked very good together. The man was quite tall, towering over the beautiful girl. They both looked to be around their 20's, and madly in love, since they were so close to eachother. Kayashima looked at them with an expressionless emotion. "Your aura's are bright red and pink." The customers looked at him as if he was crazy and then smiled to eachother, knowing that red and pink meant love and passion.

Their orders were small, since they couldn't think about anything more than their love for eachother. Kayashima took the order to Io, who started on their order immediately. Io didn't have that much free time, so she asked the workers that weren't busy to do some of the dishes, mainly Nakatsu, Mizuki, and Sano.

Cleaning and drying the dishes took longer than they thought. Because they weren't very busy, all they got to do were do the dishes and sit around to talk with everybody else that wasn't running around.

2 o'clock passed, as did 3 and 4 o'clock. Not many customers throughout the hours, but some to make some money.

As diner was served, all the reservations came and left within an hour per table. The crew was happy that the day was over so relaxingly. For that, they all did the cleaning, and because their friends, or in Nakatsu's eyes, enemies, were coming tomorrow, they wanted the place to be extra clean, or dirty for Nakatsu.

Their evening meeting was short and sweet. They all discussed tomorrow's events and order before heading to bed, wanting the night to go by really fast. Nakatsu, on the other hand, wished that the american girl never existed, so he wanted the night to go by extremely slow.

Once the first alarmclock went off at 7am, everybody was wide awake in happiness or fear. They got dressed quickly, got their meeting done, and started their cleaning before the girls arrived. They said they wouldn't be there until about 10 or 11, but they still wanted it to be clean incase they got there early.

"Hey, Izumi! Could you give me a hand over here with the mop? The bristles are stuck on the hook way up there, and I'm not tall enough," Nakao called from the cleaning cabinet.

Sano walked into the closet and reached up high to unhook the tangled part of the mop. He then handed it to Nakao and walked back to doing his sweeping along with Mizuki.

Once the cleaning was finished, the crew sat in a room next to the kitchen, waiting for some customers to walk in. Two hours passed, and it was nearing the time for the girls to come.

Mizuki went to take some silverware to a table that was, until recently, occupied. When she was putting the silverware on the table, she noticed the door opened, so she looked up and was greeted with a big, warm, familiar smile that she knew from anywhere.

"Julia!" Mizuki screamed as she ran to her best american friend and hugged her tightly. Julia hugged her back just as tight and smiled to her. "How are you? I haven't seen you in a long time," Julia said.

"I'm doing great. Oh, and Rio's here, too! This is going to be fun," Mizuki smiled as he took Julia's luggage from her and started carrying it to their room. Sekime and Noe, knowing the sound of girls laughing, quickly rushed out to the scene to greet the girls. "Hey, girls. I'm Sekime and he's Noe. We work here. Can we get your luggage?" Sekime asked all hyper and energetic.

The girls laughed and smiled at the boys as they handed them their small suitcases full of their clothes and supplies. The boys had a rough time carrying at least 3 suitcases each, and each weighed around 30 pounds.

"Are you okay back there? You're quite far behind," Julia asked Sekime and Noe.

They both ran towards the girls as if they were right behind them the whole time. "O-of course we're alright. This isn't the hardest job we've done," Noe said with a small laugh. The rest of the way there, the girls and Mizuki talked about their summer already and what they were planning on doing for the weekend.

Once reaching their room, Sekime and Noe wouldn't have been happier to just let the luggage fall to the floor in a pile, but since they were in front of some girls, they couldn't, so they set the luggage down softly just by the beds.

"Okay. We'll be in the kitchen cleaning some dishes if you need anything else," Sekime requested as he and Noe left the room.

Mizuki smiled and followed the boys. "I guess I should be going, too. I have to get some things done for work. If you want to talk more, come visit us in the dining room tonight."

"Okay! We'll see you later, Mizuki," Julia said and everybody waved.

The day went by so fast, and when the restaurant closed, the girls went down to meet Mizuki in the dining room. She was already there, waiting for them, along with Sano next to her.

All the girls screamed in glee as they got to meet the famous Izumi Sano sitting right in front of them. Nakatsu then came from around a corner to give Mizuki and Sano each a glass of water. He then set eyes on Julia and his eyes turned a devilish red as if he cursed her for the rest of her life. "Why does she have to be here!" Nakatsu cried as he walked to the table. He went to sit next to Mizuki, but the seat was taken by none other than his enemy, Julia.

"Hey! That was my seat, you stupid bitch!" he screamed at the american.

"Yeah? Well, what are you gonna do about it? You can't hurt a customer like me, especially around my witnesses," Julia said as she pointed to her friends that sat across from them. Sekime and Noe ran into the room and pulled up some chairs next to the girls on each end and began to get to know them.

"Hey, Mizuki. I have a question," Julia whispered.

"Yeah? What is it, Julia?" Mizuki replied.

"Well...you know that wierd guy from school that kept hitting on me?" Julia asked.

_'Is she talking about Minami?' _Mizuki nodded her head and smiled. "Yeah. What about him?"

"Well...why is he here!" she screamed as she pointed towards the door to point out the figure of a dorm R.A. with long, brown hair.

"Hey. What's up?" Minami asked.

_'This can't be a good sign,'_ Mizuki thought to herself.

* * *

Chiyo: There's my third chappie and it's getting better. I couldn't really think of a good way to end this chapter, so I decided to give Minami a role. The more time I have off, the better my story gets so justkeep checking.Oh, and another thing. The more reviews I get, the more motivated I get to write my chappies, so if I think i'm going to shoot for 14 reviews now!

Chiyo's Sis: Why is Minami there? Why can't he just leave Julia alone?

SetosGirl: Minami doesn't deserve Julia! I deserve Minami! He's mine!

RandomGuyThatBreakDancesOutsideAMajorPublicBuilding: When's Dr. Umeda going to be in the story?

Chiyo: I'm getting to him, okay? Just give me some time! Anyways, please review. Thanks for all the help and support.


	4. Misconception

Chiyo: Wahoo! It's my forth chappie! I'm so-o-o sorry it took so long to update, but I kind of haven't been into writing my story, and also I had to work much more than usual. I got 15 reviews, and it's exactly what I was going for. I think i'm going to shoot for...19 this time, okies? Wait, I'm not going to shoot for reviews. I'll just let everybody review if they want. Sound good?

Chiyo's Sis: Shut up and get on with it!

Seto'sGirl: Yeah! Get on with it! (From Monty Python: Holy Grail. I request that everybody watches it)

RandomGuyWhoBreakDancesOutsideAMajorPublicBuilding: Who cares?

Chiyo: I'm getting to the good part! Geez, give me some praise and time to actually write the story! And this disclaimer thing is getting annoying after putting it in each chappie, but who cares?

Disclaimer: ChiyoTenshi doesn't own Hana-kimi. She wishes to, but that's not going to happen anytime soon. She's already got some plans.

* * *

Previously...

_'Is she talking about Minami?' _Mizuki nodded her head and smiled. "Yeah. What about him?"

"Well...why is he here!" she screamed as she pointed towards the door to point out the figure of a dorm R.A. with long, brown hair.

"Hey. What's up?" Minami asked.

_'This can't be a good sign,'_ Mizuki thought to herself.

* * *

Everybody stared blankly at the figure, known to humans as Minami, and wondered why he was there. His arm left arm was up and pressing against the frame of the door to keep his balance and to look all cool.

"What's with the faces?" Minami asked. "I thought you would be happy to see me before school started."

Julia, obviously, was the first one to talk, or yell, in his face. "Why do you keep following me wherever I go? Can't you just leave me alone! I don't like you and never will, so just get out of my life!" she screamed in bloody murder.

Apparently, Minami had managed to ignore whatever it was that she had to say, and, instead, grabbed her around the waist, pulling her close to him.

"It's ok, sweetheart. I won't bother you if you ask nicely, my little chickadee," he said, kissing her hand gently.

She quickly pulled away, and, to an unknown cause, Julia couldn't help but blush at his action. Everybody saw and laughed in their throats, but once she noticed, the look on her face was undescribeable, or, in simple words, shocked.

"What are you all looking at! Get this freak away from me!" she yelled, angrily.

Mizuki laughed again and began to question Minami. "Um, why are you here, Minami? We never received a call from you," she said as she scanned the list of reservations.

"What are you talking about? Of course I called and got a reservation for the whole weekend. I should be on this list," he assured.

Mizuki, again, scanned the list but this time, she then noticed two letters on the sheet that made her think. _'R.A...'_ she thought to herself.

Holding the list up to Minami's face, she pointed to the name "R.A." "This wouldn't happen to be you, would it? Who, in their right mind, would reserve a room under "R.A."?" she asked, curiously.

Minami ran his fingers through his hair and smiled excitedly. "Yup. That's me. You know, I AM an R.A. at Osaka High, so why not reserve a room under that nickname?" he asked, proud that he was an R.A. rather than a normal student. (Sorry to all us normal people out there. I just had to make this story seem...well...interesting.)

Mizuki sighed a bit in embarrassment, knowing that her school R.A. was now in the restaurant that she worked in, and also had a reservation. In Minami's point of view, it was all towards chasing a hott, well-developed, nose-punching, american girl who was now staying at a school in Japan with his aunt, Rio. Apparently, they were at the hotel as well, along with a few of their friends.

All of Julia's friends went up to Minami with their hands against their chests in a girly manner. They started asking him questions about his hobbies and work, and, with his popularity with the girls, he smiled and answered every question honestly and sweetly.

Every time he smiled, the girls would turn around and squeal in their throats because Minami's smile is just so-o-o gorgeous...to them. (Personally, I don't like Minami, but I don't hate him either. I just think he could get a small haircut and a better attitude instead of hitting on every girl in his bubble. I just want to entertain you with my knowledge of humor.)

Julia grabbed Mizuki by the arm and dragged her out of the room while her friends were busy keeping the obsessed-with-Julia, Minami, talkative with them and not Julia.

The drag didn't last long, (Doesn't that sound like a smoke? By the way, I don't smoke...if anybody cares.) and before they knew it, they were outside the restaurant and gazing up at the stars and crimson moon that emitted a beautiful light throughout the landscape.

"What's wrong, Julia? Are you upset that Minami is here? I could always ask Io to tell him to leave, but that would bring us a bad reputation for the restaurant. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about it," Mizuki blurted after a long silence.

Julia laughed and shook her head, then smiled to Mizuki. "It's ok, Ashiya. You don't have to do anything about it. I can take care of it on my own. It's my responsibility that he likes me, and I should do something to get him out of trying to get my attention so often," she replied.

They smiled to eachother and then turned their attention back to the darkened sky. It was nearing 11 o'clock, and usually the time for the workers to return to their "dorms" for bed.

"Well, sorry, Julia, but I have to get going. If I don't get to bed now, I'll never get up for work tomorrow. If you want, come by the restaurant and get some breakfast. I'll buy," Mizuki suggested, kindly.

They exchanged hugs and then started towards their own rooms. "Okay. I'll ask the girl if they want to stop by, but if they don't, I will. Just don't tell Minami, okay? I don't want to be stuck with him," Julia said, disguistedly.

Mizuki laughed and waved goodnight as she started in a hurry to get to bed. Just before she turned a corner, a figure stood before her, and, without the breaks that she needed to stop from running into the figure, she smashed right into him/her.

She was sent flying to the floor, and because of the speed she, until recently, had, the other person was pushed back a foot, but was able to gain their balance.

Mizuki rubbed her butt after she fell, and then looked up at the person who stood before her with his arm stretched out to help her up. _'AH! It's Sano! Gosh, this reminds me of what happened when I first arrived at Osaka High,' _she thought.

"Where have you been, Ashiya? You never went back to the room, so I went looking for you all over the hotel," Sano said as he grabbed Mizuki's hand and pulled her up.

She smiled her nervous smile and laughed uneasily. "Uh...sorry. I was just spending a little away time with Julia. She just had to get away from Minami, obviously, and I'm her best friend, so she just dragged me outside," she replied.

Sano sighed a bit in relief that Mizuki was okay and wasn't hurt physically or mentally. He then ruffled her hair and smiled the kind of smile that Mizuki loves. "Well, I'm just glad you're okay. You should be more careful about going out late at night. It's dangerous for gir-- I mean guys like you to be outside the hotel for many reasons." He turned and started heading back towards their room.

Mizuki tilted her head a bit, confused about everything he said. She then smiled and followed, and while on the way, they talked about their day at work. Sano and Mizuki had an easy day because there just weren't that many customers as there were two nights ago, but the next couple days were going to be busy, fun, exciting, and bad for different people.

When they reached their room, they quickly changed into their pj's and went straight to bed. It was getting extremely late, and they had work tomorrow again. Another reason was because Sano was tired, which isn't surprising since he usually sleeps at school with his eyes open.

The moon rose, and then set, changing places with the rising sun. The whole first floor was rumbling with noise from different alarmclocks going off at the same time. Everybody jumped from their beds and began their day with showering and dressing for the occasion known to modern humans as work. (DOOOOOOOM! I hate my work, but I get good pay...so it's all cool. Who agrees?)

"Hey, Mizuki, could you get the basket of knives, please?" Nakatsu asked as he rushed through the kitchen while carrying a tray of water glasses.

"Sure," Mizuki replied as she went from the table that she was setting flowers on to the kitchen for the basket of forks. "Where do you want it, Nakatsu?"

"Anywhere by the window is fine," he yelled as he set some glasses, neatly, on each table. "Then could you start sorting the knives into their groups? I need them ready in a bit after I'm done with these glasses."

Mizuki nodded and took the basket of knives and brought them by the window of the kitchen, setting them on a tray that stood before it. She then started separating the steak, butter, and bread knives so they would be easy to find when needed.

"Need some help?" came a voice from behind Mizuki as she was starting to get into the whole separating-the-knives event.

Mizuki turned around and smiled. "Sure,Sano. That is...if it's not a problem."

Sano shook his head and smiled at Mizuki with amusement. "Why would it be a problem? I don't have anything else better to do," he answered.

A nervous and uncertain expression appeared upon Mizuki's face since she didn't know what to say in reply. She never really ever knew what to say to him, but that wasn't because she was nervous to talk to him. It wasn't because she was nervous around him because he was so handsome. It was because she didn't want him to find out that she was really a girl. Apparently, he already knew, but kept quiet about it. "Oh...well, thanks," she replied, hesitantly.

Sano laughed and ruffled Mizuki's hair. "You worry too much. If you don't stop, you're going to go bald," he chuckled.

Mizuki blushed a pinkish red and glared at him. "I don't worry! I just didn't want you to cut yourself if you accidently fell asleep while separating these things," she growled at him while holding up a knife to show him how sharp they were.

At that very moment, when Mizuki told Sano about cutting himself, she hadn't been paying attention to her own hands and what they were doing. All she remembered was feeling a knife slice her finger open slightly and watch the blood trickle down her hand and onto the floor. Luckily, it wasn't over the other knives, otherwise they'd have to be washed all over again.

"Ouch!" Mizuki cringed in pain as she felt the cut and clutched her finger in her open hand, trying to prevent the pain and the bleeding.

Sano jumped at this and then set his knives that he was working on down. "Let me see it," he politely insisted. Mizuki first refused, but with Sano's look of fury and worry, she then put her hand in his and watched him study her finger as if it were a life or death situation.

"It doesn't seem to be a deep cut, but..." he stopped mid-sentence as he then, softly, sucked on her finger to help rid of the blood that slowly, made it's way out of Mizuki's body.

Noticing his action, Mizuki blushed a crimson red and just couldn't help but stare at him as he did what he did. Sano then stopped for a quick second to examine her finger. It had managed to slow the bleeding a bit, but now all her blood was in her face. Sano's eyes looked up at Mizuki and stared right back at the pair of eyes that were gazing at him with non-stop affection.

For a few seconds, they continued to stare at eachother, each having a blush on their face, but neither of them could turn away.

The silence and staring was broken by the sound of angry footsteps entering the dining area where Sano and Mizuki were presently at. They both turned towards the doorway and saw a confused Nakatsu. "What are you two doing?" he asked, quite upset about what he was seeing. From his point of view, Nakatsu saw Mizuki's hand in both of Sano's and he was bent over a bit while looking up at Mizuki. To Nakatsu, it looked like a love scene or a proposal of marriage, but he didn't think that Sano would do such a thing, especially to his roommate, but his thoughts didn't match up to what was really happening.

Mizuki and Sano looked at eachother for a split second then at their hands before pulling away from eachother with a slight warmth in their cheeks.

"Oh...sorry. I cut my finger, and he was just checking it for infections," Mizuki said with a some hesitation in her voice.

Sano stood as she was talking and walked towards the door that Nakatsu was just barely through. He nodded at what she said and exited quietly, returning to his duties.

As he did so, Nakatsu watched him pass and then turned to Mizuki who stood by the basket, looking at her finger that was cut. "Hey, are you okay? Maybe you should get a bandade and help stop the bleeding," Nakatsu suggested, wanting her to feel better.

"Oh, right. Thanks, Nakatsu. I never thought about a bandade. I must be off in my own world," she laughed as she smiled to Nakatsu, thankfully, and headed towards the bathroom to grab a bandage.

_'Oh, god,'_ Nakatsu thought to himself. _'Is it just me, or does Mizuki seem closer to me somehow?'_ He sighed a bit in his happyland, and walked out of the room to finish putting out some water glasses.

_'Ouch,'_ Mizuki yelled in her mind. _'This cut is more than it seems. I guess I should do what I can to make it better.'_ After putting a bandade on her finger, covering the cut that continued to let blood flow from the wound, she made her way back to the window of the kitchen to finish separating the knives. When she neared the window, she was greeted by an empty tray and no basket.

"Hey, what happened to the knives?" Mizuki asked Nakatsu as he passed her with a few water glasses.

He shrugged a bit and continued to rush to the tables. "I think Sano finished them. He didn't want you to get another cut, so he did them himself," he yelled in a soft-tone.

_'Sano? Why would he do the rest? It was my job...maybe I should thank him,'_ she thought, happily. She ran to the other room to look for Sano to do what she had planned. When she was just about to turn a corner, she ran into another figure, and being the shrimp that she was, she fell backwards and onto the floor again like the other previous times. "Ouch! Why does that always happen to me?" she whimpered while rubbing her butt.

"Ohmigosh! I'm sorry, Mickey! Are you okay?" came the voice from the other person, and was followed by a few others. Mizuki looked up, knowing that there was only one person that called her "Mickey."

"Julia...Oh, it's okay. I'm fine," she laughed as she pulled herself off the ground and brushed her butt that was full of dust. "I guess I missed a spot when sweeping," she giggled while looking at the dust that shot from her butt as it was brushed off.

All the girls laughed and smiled a warm, morning smile. "When does the restaurant open? We're starving!" they cried in hunger.

Mizuki sweatdropped and assured them with all she could might. "Well, if you could hold your hunger for another--" she then looked at a clock "25 minutes, we'll should be open by then. On weekends, the restaurant doesn't open until 9 o'clock, but on weekdays, it opens at 8 o'clock."

The girls whined in chorus, wanting to eat something, especially all they've heard about Io's food just made their mouths water. They glanced around the room, glaring at all the other people that were starting to walk in and take seats at some tables, waiting for the kitchen to open and start serving breakfast.

"Would you girls like anything to drink while you're waiting?" Mizuki asked, hoping that they would give her something to do.

"Oh, sure. Could we just get a pitcher and a few glasses? That would be great, thanks," Rio ordered kindly.

"Sure. I'll be back with that in a minute," Mizuki smiled, happily. She made her way to the kitchen and grabbed a large pitcher from a cabinet. She then put some ice in the pitcher before filling it with cold, refreshing water with a lemon in it to make it a bit sour. After doing so, she started walking back through the entrance to the kitchen, but before making it entirely through the door, she was stopped by a tall, slender figure standing before. She quickly leaned back and held the pitcher of glass tightly so she didn't drop it.

"Excuse me," said a familiar voice that Mizuki wasn't expecting to hear. She looked up and groaned a bit in the back of her throat, hoping he didn't hear that.

"Well, it's good to see that you're awake, Minami. If you're looking for Julia, she went outside on the trail with her friends," she lied, smartly.

Minami grinned a happy smile and turned a bit with each word he said. "I guess I'll go find her," he declared.

Mizuki, noticing his movements, knew that Julia and her friends were in the kitchen waiting for the kitchen to open. "Wait!" she screamed almost stuttering.

At the scream, Minami snapped around and faced Mizuki as if something was wrong. "What?"

"Y-you can't go through the dinnery," she started. "It was just swept and mopped, so it's slippery, and you don't want to slip and break your arm or leg while looking for Julia, right?" she asked, hoping he didn't know she was lying.

Minami stared down at her a bit and then sighed while scratching his head a bit and laughing. "I guess you're right. It would be a bad thing to hurt myself while looking for her, so I'll go around. Thanks, Mizuki. Next time, you should get a caution sign," he suggested.

Mizuki brushed off the sweat that gathered on her forehead from her face. _'Phew. I'm glad that's over,'_ she panted. She then took hold of the pitcher of water again and headed back into the dinnery towards Rio and Co.'s table.

"Sorry for the wait," she smiled a bit. "I met Minami on the way back, but I told him that you were on a walk on that really long trail just outside the hotel. You owe me big now, Julia," she moaped as she crossed her arms and sat next to the girls.

Julia looked at her, wide-eyed and smiled happily before giving her a big, bear hug. Mizuki smiled and laughed at her. "You know, you could just ask Sano something for me, that is if you want to pay me back," she grinned.

"Like what?" Julia asked, curious on what she wanted to know.

Mizuki looked around the room and then leaned in towards Julia, followed by the other girls who wanted to know the secret, too.

"I want you to ask him if there's something special in his life; if he has any plans on spending his life with anybody," Mizuki mentioned.

Julia looked at Mizuki for a long minute and smiled, knowing that she still had a big crush on Sano and that she wanted to know something else about him.

They smiled at eachother and Julia nodded in agreement. "Of course. If it'll help you with your relationship, then why not?" she laughed. The other girls joined in and giggled. The rest of the time, before the restaurant opened, the girls talked about Sano and his practice, and she explained her story to the other girls that didn't know her real identity.

A bell rang through the dinnery and the kitchen, signaling that the kitchen was now open, and that the customers could be served anytime from now until it closed. After saying their goodbye's, Mizuki stood from her seat and quietly made her way to the kitchen to help Io with getting food ready. When she entered the room, one lonely figure stood before her, taking care of the meats for Io.

"Hey, Sano," Mizuki greated. "Need help with anything?" she asked, hoping she could help him.

Sano shrugged a bit and smiled as he cut some of the meat of chickens, cow, and pigs on a board to make it easier to cook and easier for Io to get the food and go. "Well, not really," he started, making Mizuki frown, but Sano, noticing this, laughed softly and talked while cutting some of the meat. "But could you get some frozen fries from the freezer downstairs? Io's running low, and she needs them ready when the customers order them."

Mizuki's energy and mood shot up in an instant, knowing that Sano needed her help again. That's what she loved about him. Not only because he needed her for certain things, but because she loved spending time with him because he paid a lot of attention to her when he wasn't busy.

"Sure!" she yelled a bit too loud and ran out the kitchen and down the stairs to the freezer.

The stairway was a bit long, making it seem like she'd been going down for an hour. After reaching her destination after what seemed to be atleast 20 minutes, she walked towards the freezer. It was a big, silver door with a big, metal handle to keep the coolness inside. She grabbed the handle, which almost froze her hand the instant she touched it. When she opened the large door, there were shelves of many different foods and accessories. On the right side of the freezer were the meats and poultry that either lay in boxes or on sheet pans. The left side contained all the breads and other small foods like fries and cheese curds.

With each step she took, cold chills would make their way up and down her body, resulting in a small, shivering body in the middle of the freezer. She glanced up and down the left shelve, looking for a bag of frozen french fries, and once finding one, she took it from a box and then headed towards the door quickly so she could regain her blood circulation. Upon reaching the door, she noticed that there was no handle on the inside of the freezer door.

Mizuki's eyes roamed around the door, desperately looking for a way out so she could warm up. Once realizing that there was no handle, she began to panic even more. She dropped the bag of fries and started banging on the door as hard as her little hands would allow her.

She screamed as loud as her cold lungs would let her, but upon the other side, only soft talking was heard. She then cuddled herself in a corner of the freezer, farthest from the freezing machine. Her eyes were watering and slightly freezing because of the temperature in the room.

Up in the kitchen at the time, Sano was cutting some the meat that he had before Mizuki went into the freezer. _'Oh no,' _he thought to himself, almost panicing as much as Mizuki was. _'Didn't I tell her there was no handle to the freezer on the inside!' _He then dropped his knife and ran out of the room and down the hallway, trying his hardest to get downstairs. _'Mizuki...'_

_'Sano...,' _she thought to herself, shivering while holding herself tight to try to keep warm. _'Help...'

* * *

_

Chiyo: Okay! I'm finally done with this chappie. I'm really sorry I haven't posted in so long. I've been quite busy and haven't been in the mood to write, but whenever I get reviews, I get more and more into wanting to write the story, so keep the reviews coming. Thanks HyperBunnyAttack! Without your review, I never would've finished this chappie.

Chiyo's Sis: When will the next chappie be out?

Chiyo: No idea. I guess you'll just have to wait!

RandomGuyWhoBreakDancesOutsideAMajorPublicBuilding: That's fine with me! I can get money in front of the P.A.C. while I'm waiting!

Chiyo: Um...okay, but anyways, the more reviews, the better. I'll be done with the next chappie by mid October at the latest! Ciao!


	5. Reunion

Chiyo: Omigosh! It's been like...forever trying to get me to write the next chappie! I finally got a little bit of time to do some creating and designing. I hope nobody's mad at me for trying sooooo hard just to have atleast 15 minutes to write some stuff for the next chappie. I really appreciated all the reviews, and they got me soooo motivated to start writing again. I know I didn't have a very good ending in the last chappie, but I tried to make it better, but the more I tried, the more and more I just wanted to finish the chappie and post it. I'm sorry, and to pay for it, I will make this chappie extra long! Enjoy! 

Disclaimer: ChiyoTenshi does not own Hana-kimi since she doesn't have the _skills_ to keep it in shape and all that good stuff...

* * *

Previously

She screamed as loud as her cold lungs would let her, but upon the other side, only soft talking was heard. She then cuddled herself in a corner of the freezer, farthest from the freezing machine. Her eyes were watering and slightly freezing because of the temperature in the room.

Up in the kitchen at the time, Sano was cutting some the meat that he had before Mizuki went into the freezer. _'Oh no,'_ he thought to himself, almost panicing as much as Mizuki was. _'Didn't I tell her there was no handle to the freezer on the inside!'_ He then dropped his knife and ran out of the room and down the hallway, trying his hardest to get downstairs. _'Mizuki...'_

_'Sano...,'_ she thought to herself, shivering while holding herself tight to try to keep warm. _'Help...'_

* * *

Mizuki brushed her arms a bit, trying to keep herself a little warmer that she was from the cold air. (A.N.- Trust me... a freezer can get very cold if you are in there for a long time. How do I know this? I work at two different restaurants as dishwashers and I have to go into the freezer/coolers all the time. Another thing...Mizuki's only wearing some very thin pants and a short sleeve shirt, so trust me. It's cold in a freezer!)

As she moved her hands up and down her arms, she could feel her arm tense up a bit with each movement. She knew right then that her blood was starting to chill too much, and soon her blood could not be able to travel throughout her body anymore. _'W-why do I have to d-die like th-this? What c-can I do? It's t-t-too cold in here to m-move,'_ she stuttered in fright and fridgity.

**In the warmer part of the restaurant...**

Sano was doing all he could to get to the basement. On the way towards the stairs, he met Nakatsu, Io and Kayashima.

"What are you running--" they started in chorus.

"--Mizuki's in trouble!" he yelled, cutting them off before they could finish.

At the sound of 'Mizuki' and 'trouble,' Nakatsu grabbed Sano's left arm, holding him in place so he didn't take another step forward.

"What are you doing? I need to get Mizuki!" Sano yelled, angrily.

"What kind of trouble?" Nakatsu asked, wanting to know all the details.

"Io," Sano started, ignoring his question, "go get some warm blankets immediately! Nakatsu, go get something warm to drink. If you want Mizuki to live, you might as well do as I say!" he yelled again, freeing him self from Nakatsu's grip. He then grabbed Kayashima's arm and pulled him towards the stairway to the basement. Io and Nakatsu were left, looking at eachother in confusion, but they wanted to make sure, so they didn't hesitate to start at their instructions. They ran in their own separate directions as quickly as they could, not caring about anything else that was happening in the restaurant.

**In the basement...**

Mizuki was still cuddled up in a corner, shivering and trying to move her arms, but since she was so cold, her body didn't respond to her requests. Her blood was like ice. Maybe colder. She couldn't stand it anymore. Her eyes were drying out and her vision was getting blurry and dizzy. _'I-it's...so...cold...'_ she thought. Her breathing was getting shorter, softer, and colder. In a couple seconds of her last breath, she was left in the corner unconscious.

Soon after, Kayashima and Sano arrived at the door to the freezer. "Okay, Kayashima. You are going to hold the door open so I don't get locked in." Kayashima nodded in agreement and then quickly opened it, releasing a huge gust of cold air at them. Sano, panicing on how Mizuki must feel right now, jolted into the freezer and glanced around the cold-aired grave. His eyes were already drying out, so it was hard to see. He looked in every square inch of the freezer. Kayashima stood at the entrance of the freezer, looking around to help him find Mizuki.

Sano's eyes roamed around and around, finding nothing. He then turned towards the exit of the freezer and caught the sight of a lifeless body, with pale skin. "Mizuki!" Sano shouted and scurried towards her figure. Not wanting her to be any colder than she already was, he quickly wrapped his arms her back and under her legs like a husband would do to a newly wedded wife. He then ran out of the freezer to warm her up as quickly as possible.

Kayashima gasped softly as he saw Sano carrying a look-alike Mizuki who looked to be sleeping. As Sano exited the freezer, Kayashima quickly shut the door to keep the cold air in the freezer and not the basement itself.

Sano was still holding Mizuki in his arms and tried as hard as he could to warm her up himself. His body wasn't as warm as Kayashima's was since he was in the freezer a bit as well, but he was much warmer than she was. He held her close to himself and massaged her arms a bit, trying to warm her body with a little bit of friction. He happened to succeed a tad, but since she was unconcious, he couldn't tell if she was warming up enough or not at all.

On the inside, Sano was panicing, scurrying around his largely-information-packed brain to find something useful to help her gain conciousness and warmth. On the outside, all he could do was hold her tighter and closer to himself to warm himself and Mizuki.

Kayashima, standing by him the whole time he was doing this, was talking to the ghosts that roamed around them. They were telling him that her spirit was not within her own body, but it was still visible, meaning she was still alive, but only just.

Footsteps were then heard from the stairway that lead from the main level of the restaurant to the basement. Sano didn't bother moving or speaking. All he could do was stare, blankly, at the unconcious figure of Mizuki that lay close to himself. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was slightly ajar, making it look like an overlarged doll. From the temperature of the freezer, her skin was as white as a snow leopard's fur.

The next thing Sano knew, Mizuki was taken from himself and wrapped in a heated blanket that Io got from one of the hotel rooms. Nakatsu was holding Mizuki in his lap and moisting her head and face with a warm, wet cloth. At this sight, Sano couldn't help but growl under his breath. Although he wouldn't admit that he liked her in public, his face told his emotions.

With everybody in the room now, he knew that Mizuki would be alright, but since she was still unconcious, he still had that little feeling that she wouldn't wake up.

_'Ohmigod,'_ thought Nakatsu. _'Mizuki looks so cute like this. I'm so happy that he's in my lap! I wish everyday was like this, and that he was awake and witnessing this...'_ he drooled in his dirty thoughts.

Sano, noticing Nakatsu in his little dilemma of happiness, quickly ran over to Nakatsu and raised Mizuki into the air in his own grasp. The blanket was still wrapped around her, but was loosely hanging in spots.

Nakatsu's thoughts were shot and he was brought to reality. His first sight was seeing Mizuki in Sano's arms, making him growl to himself.

"I'm going to bring him to his bed. I can take it from here," he declared.

Io nodded and stood from her spot. She then looked at Nakatsu and Kayashima. "You boys will return back to work. Sano, I leave Mizuki in your care. Do we have an understanding?" she asked.

Sano didn't bother to turn around or anything. He just stood where he was for a second or two before starting back up the stairs towards the main level of the building. The other three looked at eachother in both confusion and panic, hoping that Mizuki will pull out of it alive.

The whole while walking up the stairs, Sano was roaming his pot-headed brain trying to find a way to make Mizuki wake up and return to normal. He thought of calling a doctor, but he wanted to make sure that Mizuki's secret was kept secret the whole while she was with him. Although there were a few others that knew about her secret, he knew that he could trust them on his own death.

A few minutes later, Sano walked through the doors of their room that they shared along with Nakao. Apparently, Nakao was out and about trying to find the obsessed-with-Julia pervert known to the school as 'R.A.', or to make it more clear...Nanba.

He gently set Mizuki on the lower bunk, mainly _his_ bed and covered her with his warm sheets. Throughout their school days, Mizuki had happened to end up having a "sleepover" with Sano a lot, so he was used to having her in his own bed. The first thing he did was grab a medium sized bucket from the kitchen and quickly return back to the room.

The slightest sounds were made from her small, frail body, and her chest was expanding and deflating at the smallest bit. He knew that he had to hurry and warm her up get her body temperature back to normal. He took the bucket in the bathroom, filled it with extremely warm water and grabbing a wash cloth before recurring to Mizuki. He wet the cloth with the water and twisted it a bit to eliminate some of the excess water. He then dabbed it lightly on Mizuki's head to warm her face and head. At the small touch, he saw Mizuki's eyes twitch and then calm down. Apparently, her body thought it was too warm for her cold body, and made her eyes twitch.

With that done, he pulled the blankets up past her shoulders to keep the rest of her body warm. He was then left to just sit in the room, staring at the fragile figure that lay before him in his own bed. He couldn't help but feel so upset with himself that he could not tell her earlier that there was no handle on the door. All he wished for now was to turn back time and redo what he did wrong. If he did, he thought that everything would be normal, and that they would all be working happily again by now.

Seemingly, it was too late for that now, he had no choice but to make up for his wrong, or in his case, mistakeable (A.N.- I don't know how to spell that), choice.

He couldn't help but admire how smooth her skin looked from his point of view. Her facial feature was so smooth and the perfect shape for a girl such as herself. And there she was, lying before him in his own bed, literally unconcious. All he wanted was to have her wake up and wrap her cold, almost-liveless arms around him, thanking him from the bottom of her heart, but that was something that wouldn't happen anytime soon. Her body was still very cold, making it seem like she's already growing weaker.

Sano took the cloth and dipped it back into the bucket of warm water, and then rinsed it from excess water before replacing it back on Mizuki's head.

_'Why did this have to happen. If I would've thought sooner, she would be out in the diningroom setting up tables with silverware and glasses...'_ he trailed off in his mind.

**Meanwhile, in the kitchen...**

Io, Kayashima, and Nakatsu were having a small co-worker meeting about the whole situation.

"Didn't Mizuki know that there was no handle on the door? Somebody should've told her. This wasn't supposed to happen. Now what are we supposed to do for the silverware if both Mizuki and Sano are occupied?" Nakatsu was terrified for Mizuki, not knowing if she was going to be okay, or if something might happen later where she may never walk, speak, see, or hear again. The thoughts of those ran through his mind, driving him insane and out of the kitchen. Io and Kayashima were left to stare, blankly, at a cloud of smoke left behind from him.

Obviously, Nakatsu was not the only one who was worried. The entire population that Mizuki knew would be by her side by now with flowers, get-well cards, and balloons, hoping that she would get better. Apparently, that was not how they wanted to handle the job.

**Back in the room...**

Sano continued to place and replace the cloth with newer, warmer water to keep her head more tepid. Every five minutes he would check her temperature by resting the back of his hand against her cheek to make sure that she is warming up. He was bringing a success, but it was taking a long time. _'At this rate, she won't be awake until 10 o'clock tonight or later,'_ he thought to himself.

He sighed a bit in disbelief as he looked down at the lifeless body that lay before him. He couldn't help himself but wish that she was awake right now, or atleast sleeping instead of freezing in a never-ending maze of ice. He slowely leaned over until his face was right above hers. He stared down at her pale, white skin, and after giving it a moments thought, he let his face fall onto his targets. Their lips met, and he was sent shivers throughout his spine. He lasted the kiss just a bit longer, giving him enough time to relax, and think that she was okay. It was not a romantic kiss, or a tender kiss. It was more like a peck, but lasted more than two seconds.

He lifted his head back up and looked down at her face once again before sitting back in his chair. Her face never moved or twitched an inch. He took the cloth on her forehead and, again, dipped it in the warm water, rained it out of water, and replaced it on Mizuki's head to keep her warm.

This routine kept on for several hours. He started around 9 o'clock this morning and it was already 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Io brought some food for him, but he never took one bite, because he felt that if he ate, he would feel that Mizuki would have a disadvantage because she was unconcious. By now, she would probably be asleep, but nobody knew that for sure. Sano hoped that she was having a peaceful, happy dream and not thinking about her condition as much as he was.

After another few minutes of silence, besides the soft breathing that was heard from Sano and Mizuki, Nakatsu just couldn't keep away from Mizuki, so he barged into the room with a big crash.

"I can't take it anymore! Is he alright or what! Did he eat anything? What should I do to help? Tell me, Izumi!" Nakatsu yelled at Sano, angrily, almost making him fall over when he ran in.

Sano started with in a soft, calm tone. "If you would be quiet for one second I would tell you." Nakatsu glared at him as he was looking down at Mizuki. "He's been asleep since we found him. I think it would do him well to get some more sleep. There's nothing we can do to help him right now. We'll just have to be patient," Sano continued.

Nakatsu's eyes filled with tears and he jumped to hug Sano with a tight squeeze. "I miss him so much. Why couldn't I have taken his place!"

Sano just sat there, being squeezed by Nakatsu, and thought about what Nakatsu had just said. Why couldn't anybody have either taken his place or told her sooner? Of course, he just didn't think about it until it was too late. It was his fault, and he admitted it.

Sano escorted Nakatsu out of the room, following close behind him. He kept telling Nakatsu that Mizuki would be alright and that there was no reason to worry. He, on the other hand, couldn't help but worry, because it was his fault, and he didn't mean for it to happen. He took one last glance back at Muzuki, who lay soundlessly asleep on his bed, and then exited behind Nakatsu.

The next few hours for them were the worst that they've ever experienced. More and more customers were piling in by the second, and at one point during their night shift, the entire restaurant was packed with people. There were no tables left, and they only had about one waitor for every (roughly) 30 people. This was hard for them, and they continued to work, despite the lack of energy that they had and the moods that they were in. They tried there hardest to greet, serve and farewell the customers with politeness. It was nearing 8 o'clock at night, and they were just serving the last customers while also cleaning up the tables that were, until recently, occupied.

Everybody, including Kayashima and Nakao, were wiped and out of energy, making it more difficult for them to start cleaning up. Nakatsu went to retrieve the silverware, glasses and plates that were left from the customers, Nakao washed down each table until they were sparkling clean, Kayashima swept the porch to the restaurant and the inside where the customers would dine, and Sano washed all the dishes in the kitchen. Io had to take a shopping trip because today was an extremely busy day, and she ran out of food that she would need to serve her customers. Knowing Io, the Osaka High group knew that she wouldn't be back until after 10 o'clock.

As Sano was washing dishes, he couldn't help but hope that when he walked back into the room, he would be greeted by a confused, happy, joking Mizuki that would still be laying on his bed. He wanted to see her smiling face again, but he wasn't sure if it would ever see it again.

He continued his work, slowely, but pasing himself. He wanted to hurry so he could get back to Mizuki and help her out some more so he knew she would be alright.

All these thoughts ran through his head, and he kept hoping that she would jump into his arms and he would carry her away like a princess. Imagining this, Sano blushed as red as the blood from a deer that a lion just caught for dinner. He shook his head furiously, trying to get the picture out of his mind, but was interupted by a voice.

"Oh, hey, Sano," said the voice from the door behind him. He quickly turned around, recognizing the voice, and dropped the plate that he was washing and the cloth that he was using to clean the plate into the sink. The next thing he knew, his arms were around a small figure that stood before him.

"Um, Sano. What are you doing? Are you that happy to see me? Your aura's a mixture of pink and red," said the figure.

Sano perked his eyes open and quickly pulled apart from the person that he was hugging.

"Kayashima! Sorry, I was just...spacing. Yeah, that's it. It must've been from working so hard tonight. I think I'm going to get some sleep. Tell Io that I'm in my room if she needs me," Sano said, embarrassed.

As Sano started walking away, Kayashima nodded and then looked towards the sinks for the dishes. He then turned back towards the doorway from which Sano left, and thought to himself. '_Does he miss him that much? Poor guy,'_ he thought, sadly.

Sano brushed his hair back as he walked around a corner and then came to face the doorway that led to the sick, unconscious person that lay in his bed. He took a deep breath, let it out and then turned the knob, both wanting and not wanting to know what's beyond it.

For beyond the door that he had opened, there lay a confused, sick-looking girl who had just gotten home from a long day of work. She lay in the bed, leaning against the back of the bedset so she could look around the room. When Sano entered the room, her eyes quickly shot towards him, which he was shocked about. He didn't know if she was scared, happy, upset, or sad. All he could tell was that she looked just as bad as she did when he first found her. Her skin wasn't as pale as it was then, but it certainly didn't get much more tan than it was from the freezer scene.

Not knowing what to do, knowing that his emotions were jumping around inside of him like a bouncy ball that never stops, he just started towards the bed slowely after closing the door behind him.

"Oh, hi, Sano. My throat hurts," she started. "I guess I should take some cough medicine or something to--"

She was cut off by something around her. He had his arms wrapped around her tightly, thanking the lord that she was alright. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew it was something serious.

"S-Sano! What's wrong?" she asked with a shaggy voice and a blush across her face.

Realizing his current position, he wanted to let go of her so he didn't make her come up with any suspicions, but his body wouldn't. He wanted to keep holding her, knowing that she's alright.

_'Sano...'_ she thought, but she couldn't think of anything else. Everything for her went blank.

Sano pulled back a bit and then looked down at Mizuki. Their gazes fell upon eachothers, and neither of them could pull apart. He knew that he wanted her, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything that would let her secret get out. Mizuki, on the other hand, loved him so much, but because she didn't know that he knew that she was a girl, she didn't want to ruin her plan. Their gazes continued for another minute or so until the door opened and a head peeked from around the side.

"Helloooooo! Io Umeda reporting for duty!" Io sang as she smiled, not knowing who was inside the room other than Mizuki. Apparently, she had gotten back from her shopping trip a bit earlier than everybody thought.

Io caught a glance of Sano's arms around Mizuki, and knowing Io, she couldn't control her temper. Not just because she knew that Mizuki was awake, but because Sano was all over Mizuki.

"Omigosh! Omigosh! Oh happy, happy day! Thank the lord, right, Mizuki?" she asked while in a praying position and winked over to Mizuki.

Mizuki blinked, confused, and looked at her position with Sano.

"W-What are you talking about?" she stuttered. "Why is today a happy day?"

Io didn't want Mizuki to know that Sano knew about her secret, so she calmly walked up to her and put a hand on Sano's shoulder.

"If you don't mind, could I have some time to talk to Mizuki? I'm sure you guys can catch up on everything later when everybody goes to bed."

Sano looked at Mizuki for a second and then nodded to Io's request. He didn't say anything after that. He only stood and walked out the door, closing it softly behind him. When he was long gone, Io hopped onto the bed next to Mizuki and smiled at her excitedly.

"Aren't you excited, Mizuki-chan?" she asked.

Mizuki looked at her, confused, still not understanding why she was in such a good mood. "Um, sorry. I don't know why I should be."

"Well, firstly, I'm happy that you're conscious again. We found you in the freezer, well, Sano did, and you've been asleep for almost the entire day. We thought you would never wake up again." she pouted.

"Oh, well I'm just glad that I'm back. It feels better to be out of that cold freezer. Somebody should fix that right away," she said with a laugh.

Io took it seriously, but laughed along with her. "Of course it will be fixed. Ah, yes. And the second thing was..." she paused and leaned in towards her a little, "doesn't Sano seem to be paying a bit too much attention to you? He was the first one in the room when you gained conscious, and he hugged you. He never hugs people on regular occasions when somebody is sick, does he?" She winked and watched her think about it.

Mizuki thought about everything that happened. Not just today, but since after they met eachother. He was always with her and telling her not to do certain things. Was it a sign that he did have feelings for her, or was he just being a friend and helping her out? She didn't know.

"Sorry, Io, but I don't think that Sano has feelings for me. After all, we are roommates."

"Yes, well, do you plan on having it be that way for the rest of your life? If you want to be with him, don't you think you should tell him your secret so he knows? If you don't, how will he ever know that you're a girl? You want to be with him, right? You love him, don't you? If you want to spend the rest of your life with him, you can't keep going the way you are now. You'll have to tell him sooner or later, right?"

Mizuki was shocked, and didn't know what to say. She was speechless, yet she knew what she wanted. She wanted to be with Sano. Nothing more. All those questions rushed through her head, but she didn't know how to answer each one.

Io smiled and patted her on the head, gently."You think about those for a while. I'll let you get some rest. You'll need it for work. Tell Sano if you're not feeling well in the morning so I know if I should prepare breakfast for you," she said as she headed towards the door. "Get some rest, and don't forget to think about everything." With that said, Io left the room.

A few seconds of silence and confusion continued until the door reopened and everybody, including Sano rushed in with flowers, food, balloons, and get-well cards. Io happened to only get things for Mizuki and not for the restaurant, so she was pretty low on food supplies now.

Nakatsu jumped on the bed next to Mizuki and gave her a gigantic hug while weeping his pitiful tears.

"I'm sooooo glad you're okay! I thought you would NEVER wake up again!" he cried.

Mizuki, realizing that she had worried everybody, smiled at Nakatsu and patted him on the back softly. "Hey, it's okay. You should just be happy that I'm here. I mean, it wasn't your fault. I should've been paying more attention, so it was most likely my fault."

"Don't be absurd!"

Everybody, looked towards the doorway, where a tall, handsome figure stood.

"Sano? Why're you so mad? If he didn't know, then he can't blame anybody else, right?" Nakatsu asked.

Sano started, "Well, I didn't remember it until after he was in the cooler that the inside handle was missing, so, in other words, I forgot to tell him before he went there."

Nakao looked at him angrily. "You never even appologized to him! How rude, Izumi!"

Sano knew that Mizuki would've been disappointed if he didn't say anything. He pushed himself away from leaning against the doorway, and he bowed at a 90 degree angle. "I'm sorry, Ashiya."

Mizuki smiled, blushed and stuttered with her words while responding to him. "Y-you don't have to appologize. It wasn't that big of a mess, was it? I'm sure that it wasn't anybody's fault. I just wasn't paying attention. I'm sure that's how it happened."

"Are you sure?" Nakatsu asked with tears forming in his eyes.

Mizuki laughed and smiled. "Of course. I'm sure that's how it was. And..." she then took a second to yawn loudly, "I'm pretty tired."

The others sweatdropped and then nodded to eachother, knowing what she wanted.

"Okay, we'll leave you for the rest of the night. We'll be up bright and early tomorrow, so get some rest," Nakao stated.

Mizuki nodded and watched the others leave, except Sano who still stood by the doorway. He watched as everybody left and then once the last person was out, he shut the door behind him and walked over to the chair that was positioned right in front of the bed that Mizuki was "borrowing" for the moment.

"I guess you were worried about me, too, huh?" She saw the small blush on his face and then laughed while continuing. "Well, I guess it's normal since I'm clumsy to lock myself in a cooler. Pretty funny, eh?" She laughed to herself.

"You shouldn't say that and pretend to be happy."

Mizuki's expression was shot and she looked at Sano extremely confused. "What?"

Sano's head was facing diagonally from the bed as he spoke. "Do you know how much trouble I went through today?"

"So you did my dishes, sorted the silverware, washed the tables, emptied the trash, and took out the boxes for me?" she asked.

Sano shook his head. "No. I spent almost my whole work-time in here with you just to help you. You don't know how scared I was when I saw your face so pale and not even a twitch through the body when I ki--" he caught himself before telling her what he happened to accomplish while she was asleep. "--when I was rinsing your face with warm water for about 7 hours straight."

Now that she knew about it, she was wondering why her face felt a little warm and silky. She blushed at the thought of Sano touching her face and making her look beautiful.

"Well, thanks. I admit it. I did worry everybody, especially you, and I'm sorry." She bowed along with her apology with a sad expression to show him that she was sorry for making him lose his work time just to spend the day with her while she was sick.

Sano looked up at her and smiled. "You'd better get to sleep. We may not be too busy tomorrow, but we still have a few customers."

"Okay," she replied. She started to get out of the bed after trying to lift up about nine different blankets to keep her warm before Sano stopped her in her tracks. "Hey! I can't go to bed unless I get out of yours."

"Nope. You're sleeping in this bed. It's already warmed up and the blankets are set, and if you need anything, you're on the bottom level bunk, so it'll be easy for you to get around the room in the morning."

Mizuki looked at him and then nodded, knowing that she couldn't argue with Sano while she was sick, and for the fact that he made an excellent point. He always ended up beating her when it came to this kind of situation. "Where are you going to sleep?"

"That's for me to know as soon as you fall asleep. I'll stay here until you do," he said, calmly.

Mizuki blushed a little bit more knowing that Sano was going to watch over her until she fell asleep. It made her nervous and much more difficult for her to try to fall asleep, but seeing as how weak she was because of her incident this morning, she happened to fall asleep within 5 minutes after Sano told her to.

Sano sighed heavily as he looked down at Mizuki, laying calmly on his bed with nine blankets covering her to keep her warm.

He sighed softly and thought to himself as he reached his arm slowly and stroked Mizuki's cheek softly with the back of his hand. When his fingers went over her lips, he removed his hand quickly and then put his hand to his fingers, remembering that he kissed those soft lips.

As he sat there by Mizuki's sleeping body, he thought to himself on how he acted towards everybody earlier when he first realized that Mizuki was in danger. His mind drifted off and he soon fell asleep with his head and arms on the bed, right next to Mizuki.

**The next morning, bright and early...**

Mizuki, apparently, happened to be the first person awake in the restaurant. She turned over to look at the clock and then was surprised with a familiar face right before hers.

_'S-S-S-S-Sano? What's he doing in my bed?'_ she thought to herself with a slight blush across her face. She then realized that she was on the lower bunk and hit her head softly, knowing that she remembered. _'Right. I was told to sleep in Sano's bed. He just fell asleep here is all.'_

She then leaned up a bit and got out of the bed after lifting the nine blankets that were covering her. She then made her way towards the bathroom, and while doing so, she undid a couple of the buttons on the shirt that she had on due to the heat that she had sucked in from the heat beneath the blankets. The clock read 6:49am. After closing the bathroom door behind her, she looked in the mirror at her reflection that stared back at her. Her skin was a bit tinted now. She stroked her cheek softly and realized how soft it was. She cupped her cheeks and smiled softly. After all Sano's help, she felt safe, she was alive, and her skin was beautiful (isn't that great? ; ).

She did her duty in the bathroom quick, washed her hands, and then returned to the main room where Sano still lay sleeping by the bed. She walked up to him and bent down a bit to look at his face. It was like a child's up close while he was sleeping, and she couldn't help but smile at the cuteness. She leaned in a little bit to give him a slight peck on the cheek for his help.

Sano then suddenly woke up and was greeted with a view that almost any male would want to wake up with every morning. His face flushed and he jumped back, hitting the wall.

Mizuki was confused and jumped back a bit, as well. She then realized that he might have been hurt, so she hurried over to him and bent over just a tad.

Sano looked up and saw his view again, and blushed even more furiously. "Um..." he started, but he couldn't finish.

Ashiya was left there, confused, but seeing his face, she looked down at herself and realized that she forgot to button up her shirt. She quickly stood up and buttoned them again. _'Did he see anything? AHH! Not good!'_ she thought.

The room was silent for a second, but Sano couldn't hold it anymore. "When did you wake up? Are you feeling ok?"

Mizuki turned around again and smiled. "Yup. I'm doing just peachy! I just woke up about five minutes before you did."

"What time is it?" Sano asked while wiping his eyes to rid of the fatique that haunted him.

"It's almost 7am. We should get ready for work, Sano. I'll go take a quick shower."

Sano nodded at her request and sat there on the floor leaning against the wall, thinking. 'What a view. I didn't think she would be that empty-minded to let her cleavage show.' His thoughts started to run wild, and he ruffled his hair a bit, trying to get the thoughts out of his head. "Stop thinking like that, Izumi. You're not like that," he said as he got up and started towards the bathroom. He opened the door, not remembering that Mizuki was taking a shower. He opened the door slowly and, there, standing in front of him, was a skinny figure with absolutely no clothes on. The figure's skin was pure and silky, like a dolls.

After realizing what he had done, he couldn't move. Instead, all he could do was stare at Mizuki. Her back was to him at first, but when she turned around to get the towels from the little cabinet, the front of her body met Sano's view. His face flushed a cherry red, and Mizuki's face followed in suit. She covered herself as much as she could with her hands, but there was nothing she could really do.

_'What do I do?'_ Mizuki thought.

_'Uh oh...'_ Sano gasped.

* * *

Chiyo: This isn't the best ending for a chapter, but I tried. I was running out of ideas, and I knew that everybody wanted to read more of this fanfic, so I just finished it with this, so I hope you like it. Again, I'm soooooooooooooooo sorry that I didn't finish it earlier. It basically took me a year to write the next chapter. That's sad, and I'm sorry for all my angry fans. I'm sorry! I'll make it up to you somehow. Please comment on this chappie! Thankies!

Chiyo's Sis: You took sooooo long to finish this chappie, I'm mad!

Chiyo: Yes, I know, already. Gosh! How many times do I have to tell everybody? I'm sorry!

Chiyo's Sis: Apology accepted, but it won't happen again, right?

Chiyo: Right. Well, tune in for the next chappie. I hope everybody is still reading this. Thanks for getting me back into writing this, my dear, devoted fans!


	6. Confession

Chiyo: I am back in business! After finishing the last chapter, I have gotten the urge to continue typing the next chapter, so I'm going to be starting this chapter right away. I hope you like it.

Chiyo's Sis: So you're actually dedicating some of your time doing this?

Chiyo: I should say the same for you. You should quit smoking and start doing more mature things, ya know.

Chiyo's Sis: Don't go deciding things for me! smacks

Chiyo: AH! ducks for cover

Aaron: appears from a golf cart Don't you go hitting my Chiyo! huggles

Chiyo: My savior! huggles back 3 . 3

Chiyo's Sis: Ahem! Back to the story!

Chiyo: Right. Disclaimer, if you may... continues to huggle Aaron

Disclaimer: ChiyoTenshi does not, will not, should not, would not (wait, scratch that), and shall not own Hana-kimi. No attempts have occurred yet.

* * *

Previously...

"It's almost 7am. We should get ready for work, Sano. I'll go take a quick shower."

Sano nodded at her request and sat there on the floor leaning against the wall, thinking. _'What a view. I didn't think she would be that empty-minded to let her cleavage show.'_ His thoughts started to run wild, and he ruffled his hair a bit, trying to get the thoughts out of his head. "Stop thinking like that, Izumi. You're not like that," he said as he got up and started towards the bathroom. He opened the door, not remembering that Mizuki was taking a shower. He opened the door slowly and, there, standing in front of him, was a skinny figure with absolutely no clothes on. The figure's skin was pure and silky, like a dolls.

After realizing what he had done, he couldn't move. Instead, all he could do was stare at Mizuki. Her back was to him at first, but when she turned around to get the towels from the little cabinet, the front of her body met Sano's view. His face flushed a cherry red, and Mizuki's face followed in suit. She covered herself as much as she could with her hands, but there was nothing she could really do.

_'What do I do?' _Mizuki thought.

_'Uh oh...'_ Sano gasped.

* * *

Mizuki gasped and looked for something around to help her with her situation. However, there was almost nothing for her to do. She quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her to cover herself.

"Can we talk?" asked Ashiya. Her face was still beat red from showing Sano something that she wouldn't show somebody that easily.

Sano, lost in his own world at the moment, snapped out of it and nodded. He then walked out of the bathroom, Mizuki following behind. Sano walked over to his bed and sat there, looking up at the bottom of the top bunk. Mizuki sighed softly and walked over to him, taking a seat on the chair that was positioned by the bed, which was the chair that Sano sat on while she slept in that bed. She looked at the clock, which read 7:03. As she looked around the room, while also thinking of how to start the conversation, she looked at the other bunk, noticing that Nakao wasn't in his bed. She wondered where he could have gone to, especially so early in the morning. They were both silent for about a minute, until Mizuki started.

"Um...Sano? I'm sorry for lying to you," she started. "I don't really know how to say this, but I didn't want you, especially, to know about this."

At this, Sano turned his head and looked at her with both shock and anger in his eyes. He was shocked at the part about her not wanting him to know about this, but he was also angry about it. "So you're saying that I can't keep a secret like this? Who knows if I've been keeping secrets for you all this time?" he questioned her.

"Well, only two peop--" she was cut off in the middle of her sentence after understanding what he meant. "Wait...what do you mean by "all this time"?"

Sano sighed and leaned up, positioning himself on the edge of the bed with his feet on the floor. "Did you think that I would be even a bit more shocked if this was the first time I found out about this? Don't you think that I would've been angry about this instead of calm about it?"

Mizuki was confused, but she understood his thoughts a little bit. "I guess so, but if you knew about this, how long have you known? In other words, how long have you been keeping my secret?" she asked.

"Remember when you first arrived at Osaka High and you played a game with Nakatsu on the soccer field?" Mizuki nodded to this. "Well, I brought you to the infirmary by carrying you, and I found out then. I didn't assume anything at first, but as I got to know you more, I realized it and later came to a conclusion that my assumptions were true. So all in all, I've known since you came to Osaka High, and I have kept your secret the best that I can."

Sano's speach was so inspiring that Mizuki's eyes started to fill with tears, but she wiped them away before Sano could see them, but it was too late.

"Are you crying, Ashiya? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. Was it wrong to keep that secret from you?" Sano asked while trying to calm her.

Mizuki shook her head while bowing her head down. Her hands were up against her face trying to keep the tears away, but they wouldn't stop. "It's not that. I didn't mean to keep the secret from you. I wanted you to know sooner, but I couldn't bring myself to do that, especially you. I thought that if one of you guys knew, my secret would be out, and nobody would like me anymore, so I tried harder to keep it safe. I was keeping a secret from you, yet you were helping me keep that secret, even though I was trying to keep it secret from you most of all. I wanted to get closer to you, yet I wanted you to admire me as a girl, but I didn't know how I could do that. I'm sorry," she cried softly and buried her face in her hands as she wept quietly.

Sano was shocked to hear her say that. He knew that he had feelings for her, but he didn't know how to bring it up. Mizuki had basically just admitted to him that she liked him a lot, but how would he respond to that?

"Ashiya...you know, as a guy, I respect you a lot. If you were a guy, you would've probably been my best friend, no matter what, but being a girl, that's a different story. After you came to Osaka High, you changed my life, tremendously. I began to enjoy some life in my dorm, unlike when I never had a roommate. Other than that, you've shown me a couple of sides that nobody else has seen. I'm glad for that. Ashiya, do you know why I was keeping those secrets for you?"

A gasp emitted from Mizuki's throat and she looked up at him with tears still in her eyes.

Sano leaned in a bit and smiled. "It's because I have this choice. I made this choice because I wanted to see what would come of it, and I think I made a great choice. I got to know an amazing girl, and I cherish it. I admire you, Ashiya."

Their eyes met and silence roamed them for a bit until Mizuki's eyes couldn't take any more. She closed her eyes tightly and jumped up towards Sano, grabbing him around his chest. Her breasts pressed against the lower part of his chest and he groaned softly, wrapping his arms around her. He was content, knowing that she was close to him, and that her breasts were even closer. His face blushed a light pink at this, but he kept it to himself. Soft sobs came from Mizuki as they both stood in silence, holding eachother with passion.

A moment passed, and there was then a soft knock on the door. They both gasped and looked at eachother, pulling away quickly. Sano whispered to her "Mizuki go to the bathroom, quickly and get changed. I'll try to distract whoever is at the door." Mizuki nodded quickly and started heading towards the bathroom when the bedroom door opened enough to let Io's head peek in. "Good morning, sunshine's!" Io exclaimed. "Hey, let us through, Io! We wanna say good morning, too!" Nakatsu yelled from behind her, and Sekime, Noe, Kayashima, and Nakao were all with them. Mizuki then realized that that was where Nakao was...with the others. Mizuki and Sano gasped.

When Io noticed that Mizuki only had a towel on, she quickly shut the door, leaving Mizuki and Sano there, confused. They looked at eachother with sweatdrops on their heads, not knowing what just happened.

After a minute passed, Io came through the door and she closed it behind her, locking it as well. Mizuki was still in her towel and Sano was still standing by the bed. Io smiled to them both and told Mizuki to get changed quickly.

Io smiled at Sano and told him to sit down. She took her own seat on the chair by the bed.

"I can see that you know about Ashiya, eh, Sano?" she started.

Sano nodded slightly, but he shrugged a bit as well. "I didn't figure it out just now, you know. I knew since she first came to Japan," he stated.

Io was surprised at that, and smiled at him, more comfortable knowing that she wasn't the only one here who knew about Mizuki's secret. "Then I'm glad we're on the same level. Atleast I don't have to go explaining things, again."

The bathroom door opened, showing a more relaxed and somewhat embarrassed Mizuki. Her face was a bit pink due to her sudden "showing" of herself to the one person she liked the most: Sano.

Mizuki walked over to the others who were talking and pulled up an extra chair from the other desk that was in the room. She sad down slowly and her head was bowed down in embarrassment.

Io looked at her and smiled. "What's wrong, dear? You shouldn't be ashamed of anything. You should be happy," she started. Mizuki was confused by this and asked, "Why should I be happy?"

"Sano says that he's known since you came to Japan--," at this Mizuki frowned, "--but he didn't tell anybody," Io stated.

The room was quiet after that, and both Mizuki and Sano couldn't say anything. Io noticed this and continued.

"If he had told someone, then you would probably be in America again. I heard from my darling brother at your school that he knew about you when Sano brought you to his office when you were injured after an accident on the soccer field. Being as nice as he is, he probably wanted some more excitement in the school, so that's why he didn't tell anybody. You should consider yourself lucky."

Mizuki nodded and sighed, still abit ashamed of herself. Sano, being as concerned (spelling? I can't tell ;;;) as he was about Mizuki, nodded along with her at Io's statement. Their mind's were mixed and their thoughts matched eachothers. Mizuki looked over at Sano, who sat there lost in his own thoughts about what to say to Mizuki. He then lifted his head and his eyes met those of Mizuki. Once capturing eachother's glimpses, they quickly turned away, each with a slight blush across their face.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone, now, so you can talk about what you want to do for the rest of the time being. Just make sure that none of the other boys know about this, alright?" she asked and winked to the "couple" that sat there in the room. Io then left, closing the door behind her, leaving the other two alone.

They were quiet for about a minute or two, but Mizuki couldn't stand a long period of silence, and, yet again, her mouth took over for itself.

"You know--" she started, and Sano jolted his head upwards so he could listen attentively, "--if you only told me that you knew, I wouldn't have had to try so hard to hide it from you. I didn't mean to, you know, and I don't even know what I would've done if you never found out." Tears started forming in her eyes again. "I suppose...it's better this way...now that you know," she sniffled. Her fingers went up to wipe away the tears, but something stopped her.

"What are you crying for, idiot. You should just be happy that you're still here in Japan with no worries, besides the point that your secret has gotten out farther than I had expected." His fingers had wiped away the tears that formed in her eyes with a soft touch, and Mizuki blushed at this. She couldn't help but stare at his soft, tender eyes that she loved watching, besides the way he jumped the high jump.

Mizuki stiffened up a bit, and then lunged forward into his chest, hugging him in the process. Sano was shocked, but he didn't mind. They hugged eachother for a moment until Sano, for once, broke the silence with something unexpected.

_"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrwwwwwllll,'_ spoke his stomach. Mizuki's eyes quickly opened and then started giggling. Her giggles then turn into bursts of laughter within seconds.

"What are you laughing about?" Sano yelled, a bit embarrassed. "I haven't eaten much since you were sick, so I'm pretty hungry, you know!" He then crossed his arms and blushed, knowing that that was the worst thing to have happen during a romantic time as what was previously happening.

Laughter just filled the room since Ashiya couldn't help herself but be amused. She rarely ever heard his stomach growl for food, but when she did, she always ended up bursting out in laughter and tears.

"Hmph! Since you're ready to go, why don't you go head out and get ready for work. I'll get changed quick and follow right after you. Don't take any detours!" Sano stated.

Mizuki nodded and started towards the door, still giggling in her throat. She then began to whistle and hum a little song that she knew from America.

While Sano was changing back in the room, Mizuki was heading down the hallway towards the kitchen so she could get an apron and talk to Io before the days shift. As she emerged from the hallway, a familiar yell was heard from the dining room.

"MIKEY!" shouted Julia. Mizuki turned around and saw Julia running towards her in a tearful manner. Her arms wrapped around Mizuki's neck and pulled her into a tight hug. "How are you doing, Mikey? Are you feeling okay? What happened? I was told that you weren't feeling well, and that's all that bleach blonde monkey dude told me."

Mizuki nodded and smiled while flexing some muscles to show that she was okay. "Yup, just fine." She then pulled a muscle in her leg and fell down on the floor. "Ouch!"

Julia ran over to her and and laughed. "You shouldn't try so hard, Mikey. What if something really bad happened to you? What would I do without you? You should be much more careful and watch yourself, okay?"

They both laughed and Mizuki nodded in agreement. "You're right, Julia. I guess I did scare everybody while I was sick. I'll make sure you're one of the first people to know."

"Good. Well, now that you're better, why don't you get ready for work so you're not late. I'll be waiting for you with the other girls in the dining room for breakfast," she stated as she stood up, helping Ashiya, as well.

Mizuki nodded and brushed off her pants that got dirty after falling onto the floor. "Okay. I'll try to get to you first so wait for me. I'm only bringing out drinks and setting up tables, so I won't be able to serve you unless one of the other guys needs me."

With that, they exchanged hugs and headed in their own separate directions for the day. As Mizuki entered the kitchen, she was welcomed by a bunch of big smiles from the whole crew, including Sano. She was about to thank everybody for their concern when she was stopped by being glomped by Nakatsu.

"I missed you so much, Mizuki! Are you okay!" exclaimed Nakatsu, drowned in tears from his own eyes while hugging Mizuki, drowning her as well.

Mizuki laughed and smiled to Nakatsu, and pet him on the head like a dog. "It's okay, Nakatsu. I feel fine, now, thanks to you."

Nakatsu was shocked. He thought that Mizuki was talking to him about helping Ashiya, but instead, as Nakatsu went for another leap at Mizuki, Sano punched him and Nakatsu went flying into the wall. Mizuki was left there, stunned at what just happened.

Mizuki continued, "I wanted to thank you all for helping out. I'm sure I caused way too much trouble while I was away, but I'll make it up to each and every one of you."

The crew smiled at her and they all did a little cheer and finally began their day shift. Mizuki started washing silverware and dishes while Nakatsu and Sano went to set up the tables in the dining room. It was nearing 8 o'clock am, so they only had a little bit of time left until they had to be ready.

As Mizuki was washing dishes, she had nobody to talk to, so she felt alone for a bit while everybody else was doing their own chores in separate rooms or separates parts of the building.

_"Argh! If only there was something more fun to do! I'm so bored!" _Mizuki thought to herself. Her hands were getting prunned horribly after washing so many dishes, so she decided to take a break and wander down the hallway towards the front of the restaurant to see who would be dining in for breakfast. She scanned the pile of people waiting to get in, and she saw Julia and the group waiting to get seated. She waved to them and smiled and continued to scan the crowd. Her eyes jolted open when she saw someone that she did not expect to see. Apparently, it was exactly who she thought it was.

_"Is this a dream? Please tell me this is a dream."_

The boy she was looking at smiled at her and waved to her. He was a bit shocked to know that she worked here, but he was happy to see her. He didn't know, on the other hand, that she was in disguise as a boy, but he did notice her odd choice of clothing. He thought she could do way better for a girl.

Her head didn't tell her wrong, and she quickly made her way out of the room back towards the kitchen while thinking to herself about who she saw.

_"Gil is here? Why is he here? Is he traveling again? This could be bad," _she thought.

Sano walked through the doorway and bumped into Mizuki softly. "Oh, sorry, Mizuki. Didn't see you there." He then noticed that she was a bit pale and he quickly asked "Are you okay? You don't look too well. Are you not fully rested after your incident?" His concern for her was almost to the max, and Mizuki shook her head and ran towards her room, closing the door behind her.

_"I can't tell Sano. If Sano found out that I was in love with Gil at one time, he'll never trust me again. If Gil finds out that I fell in love with another guy, he may get mad at me. Oh! What should I do?" _she thought frantically while sitting on the desk chair.

The door opened slowly a little after Mizuki entered. Sano walked over to her and kneeled down in front of her and asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen to you to make you sick, again? Maybe you should lie down," he suggested.

Mizuki shook her head and looked at him with confusion in her mind. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she told him about Gil.

_"What should I do?"

* * *

_

Chiyo: There! Finished...sorta. I wanted to make it longer, but the longer I wanted to make it, the longer you all had to wait for this chappie to come out! I really wanted to make it up to you, but I didn't meet your expectations. I'll try harder, I swear! I'm a senior in high school, and I have a tight schedule, with a small amount of time to work on this fanfiction. If you have any suggestions as to what I can do in the next chappie, please post in your review! I look forward to many reviews and compliments and "need to work harder" phrases.

Aaron: Chiyo...

Chiyo: Aaron...

both collide in happy huggage

Chiyo's Sis: Get a room, already!

Chiyo: I hate to break the news, but me and Aaron haven't seen eachother in over 3 months, now, and we weren't officially dating, anyways, but I still love him! 3

Tune in for the next chappie!


	7. Author's Note

My fellow readers/fans/peeps/anime-lovers/friends, I am having a VERY hard time keeping up with my publishing of my story due to the fact that I have two jobs, extra-curricular activities that include band, theatrical performances/practices, and sporting events that I attend every so often. I'm very sorry for not updating since my last chappie, but I'm trying SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hard. It's harder being a senior in high school than you actually think. I think I'm going to die with such a bold schedule that I have.

If you have anything to say to try to get me motivated to start writing, then please review and I'll look them over when I have time. I can't even come on my computer much because I have a full schedule. I wish I was a freshman again, with no worries, but NOOOOOO! I can't go back.

Anyways, please review with comments/random posts/motivational reviews so I can start writing again. I PROMISE I'll start writing as soon as I can get a day off of work and events.

Lots of Love 3 ,

ChiyoTenshi


	8. Defeated?

Chiyo: YAY!!!!!!!!! Okies, so I'm back after someone kinda...urged...no, forced me to start my next chappie. (you know who you are!) I've been thinking of finding something to do on my days off of work and school. Oh, and I'm in college now going to major in Business Management. If anybody is going to visit Wisconsin within the next 5-10 years, don't forget to talk to me about the business that I'm going to start up. It's going to be an anime/manga/souvenir/japanese-theme shop. I'm going to open it up with my BFF, so wish us luck!!

Alex: I didn't know you wrote your own stories.

Chiyo: Yes, I do. Oh, and everyone, Alex is my boyfriend. We've been dating since June 17, 2007. So ya...Aaron's gone for good (cries)

Alex: Please don't cry, honey. I don't like seeing you cry.

Chiyo: I know...I'm sorry. (hugs him)

RandomGuyThatBreakDancesOutsideAPublicBuilding: Get on with it!

Disclaimer: ChiyoTenshi still does not own or rent Hana-kimi. She never will. If you think she should buy out the author now, leave a review.

* * *

Previously...

_"Gil is here? Why is he here? Is he traveling again? This could be bad," _she thought.

Sano walked through the doorway and bumped into Mizuki softly. "Oh, sorry, Mizuki. Didn't see you there." He then noticed that she was a bit pale and he quickly asked "Are you okay? You don't look too well. Are you not fully rested after your incident?" His concern for her was almost to the max, and Mizuki shook her head and ran towards her room, closing the door behind her.

_"I can't tell Sano. If Sano found out that I was in love with Gil at one time, he'll never trust me again. If Gil finds out that I fell in love with another guy, he may get mad at me. Oh! What should I do?" _she thought frantically while sitting on the desk chair.

The door opened slowly a little after Mizuki entered. Sano walked over to her and kneeled down in front of her and asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen to you to make you sick, again? Maybe you should lie down," he suggested.

Mizuki shook her head and looked at him with confusion in her mind. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she told him about Gil.

_"What should I do?"

* * *

_

Mizuki's head was filled with frustration at the moment. She didn't know if she should tell Sano now that Gil was her first love. She thought that would be too weird. Well, if you told your boyfriend or girlfriend that you fell in love with someone before them, don't you think they'd get a little jealous or upset or something? Sure they would try to understand you, but Mizuki wasn't sure how Sano might take it, especially if she were to tell him in a way as if she still liked him.

The atmosphere in the room was totally uneven and made both Sano and Mizuki uneasy. Sano, still confused, insisted to find out what was bothering Mizuki. "Honesty, Mizuki. What's wrong? Are you afraid to tell me something else that I don't know yet?"

Her eyes shot up at him and then quickly turned away. Apparently, the hardest part for her was to look Sano in the eyes about it. "Umm...I don't know how to put it."

"No matter how you put it, I will always understand," Sano stated clearly.

Mizuki inhaled and exhaled softly and then looked at him with serious, yet guilt-filled eyes. "I...you remember Gil, right? The guy that you met in America when I went there to see my family and you guys showed up out of nowhere."

Sano thought for a second and then nodded. "Why?" Aside from the calm face that he was showing Mizuki, he was somewhat angered by the thought of that guy.

"Well..." she started, "I just saw him at the entrance of the restaurant a little while ago, and--"

"What? He's here?" he asked quickly as he stood up and looked at the door as if he were going to go into a rampage.

"Calm down, Sano. What are getting so upset about? What did he say to you?" she asked.

Sano sighed and kneeled in front of her again. "Nothing. I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

"Well, like I said, I just saw him at the door, and it just reminded me of a long time ago." She stopped after she finished this sentence. "It-it made me think of how I supported him many years back when I first met him as I supported you before I even met you, and I still support you today."

Sano was confused. He didn't know what Mizuki was exactly trying to tell him. "So, what are you trying to say?"

Mizuki thought quickly and said something which is what she didn't want to say to him originally. "It just goes to show that I support many people at a time and he just brought back some of those memories."

The thoughts in Sano's mind were killing him, as he was still confused about what Mizuki just told him. "Ok. If that's all that was on your mind, then I guess it's ok. Remember, if you want to tell me something, tell me sooner rather than later, otherwise I might get mad."

Mizuki laughed and nodded to him. "Ok, thanks Sano."

They both smiled to eachother and then headed for the door to get back to work. Sano opened it for her and then they left, both thinking about the different things in their minds.

The tables were all set in the dining room, all thanks to Nakatsu who was kind of upset that Sano didn't help. When he found out that Sano and Mizuki had a private talk in their room, he was furious and ran to Mizuki crying a river.

"Why, Mizuki?! Why can't you tell me anything!? I thought we were friends!" he cried.

"Umm, Nakatsu, I'm sorry. It's just that after being roommates with Sano for so long, I just have that thing that says I have to tell him about most everything. I promise I'll tell you more from now on, ok?"

Nakatsu was happy and smiled at Mizuki. "Ok, well the tables are all set, thanks to me, so all we have to do now is get the food for the customers and such. It's almost 10 after 8 and the customers are waiting like no tomorrow!"

Sano and Mizuki looked at eachother and smiled. "Thanks, Nakatsu," they both sync'd.

Sekime and Noe (i'm finally giving them a part again, can't believe I forgot about them) were taking some phonecalls from the guests staying in the hotel who were making roomservice orders. The phones were ringing off the hook. Apparently, there were too many orders for them to handle where Sekime and Noe were crying while talking on the phone, but still with very customer-satisfactory voices.

Kayashima had seated a few customers in the restaurant and had taken some orders already. After taking the orders, he handed them to Io immediately, who started cooking as soon as an order was placed in the window between the kitchen and the waitor area.

As soon as the Sano and Mizuki saw how busy it was, they immediately got their aprons on and started their duties for the day.

The customers were everywhere, and so were the employees at the restaurant. Because all the employees were so busy, everybody had the jobs of setting up all the tables, seating customers, taking their orders, cleaning the tables, and repeating. Also, nobody paid attention that there was one table in the corner that was waiting to be taken care of. Of course, all the guys that were taking their own orders were on the opposite side of the dining room, and that corner/area was Mizuki's section. She rushed back and forth with trays of food, plates, glasses, etc. On one round, she was stopped by a tap on the arm. She quickly turned around and came face to face with an all too familiar figure.

"G-gil? Wow, it really _is_ you," she said, surprised.

"Yeah. I wasn't sure if it was you for sure or not, but by the looks of those two waitors over there," he started and pointed towards Sano and Nakatsu, "I knew it had to be you since you guys always hang out, right?"

Mizuki laughed hesitantly, hoping that Sano wouldn't see her talking to Gil. "I see. I can understand how you made that guess. You always were smart, even when I first met you."

Gil smiled and couldn't help but stare at her. She had matured a bit and started to look a little more girly, although he knew she was incognito as a boy at Osaka High so she could meet her idol, Izumi Sano. Even though that was the case, he still couldn't help but admire this small figure of a tomboy and wish that he could have her all to himself. Suddently, Gil's imaginations were cut short.

"Hey, Mizuki, what are you doing? We have customers that need to be waited on," Sano said from right behind her. Mizuki jumped at this.

"O-oh. I'm sorry! I totally forgot. I was just talking to Gil a little," she replied. As she turned around, many of the customers were looking around and asking for checks or ready to order dessert. "I'm sorry, Gil. I gotta get back to work. Would you like something to eat?"

Gil smiled up at Mizuki from his seat and nodded. "I'd just like pancakes and an orange juice."

"Coming right up," she stated and ran off to the other tables to take care of the other customers.

The corner was empty again for Gil as he watched Mizuki do her job. His food was on the table within minutes after ordering, and he was plenty satisfied with the time it took to get the food and, of course, the taste. The best part about it, to him, was that it was served by none other than Mizuki herself.

As time passed, customers left, leaving tremendous amounts of tips for their waitor, or waitress (Mizuki). However, one stubborn customer who refused to leave and was causing a disturbance to the waitors who were cleaning their tables and setting more up was still at the corner table, watching Mizuki run back and forth getting new things and trying to get things done. This upset Sano and led him to walk over towards Gil in a very upset manner. His strides were long and he was there within seconds, towering over the man. Gil looked up slowly with death glaring eyes that could kill a cow from 100 feet away, not literally. "What?" he asked Sano, angrily.

Sano shrugged and replied, "I'm afraid you are causing a disturbance to our employees. I'm going to have to ask you to leave, sir."

Gil laughed and then stopped suddenly, looking at him evily, again. "I'm sorry for the bother, sir, but I believe I am doing nothing wrong but sitting at my table minding my own business."

By this time, the last customers were just leaving their table. Kayashima was left to pick up the dishes and clean the table from its contents. Everybody else was cleaning the rest of the restaurant, including sweeping, washing tables, washing dishes, putting dishes away, and getting all the roomservice plates back.

"As you can clearly see," Sano started again, "all of our customers have left and my co-workers and I have cleaning to do."

Gil shrugged to Sano and and sighed. "I guess it can't be helped, then." As he stood, was about to pass by Sano when he stopped right beside him and whispered, "I hope you remembered what I told you before."

Sano was shocked by this. He thought it was a threat of some kind, but then he thought back to when he was in America with Nakatsu and they saw Mizuki.

After he snapped out of that memory, Sano turned to face him, but found him long gone. _"That jerk. Who does he think he is?"_ he thought to himself. As he went back into the kitchen to get a mop and start mopping the floors, he ran into Mizuki, but didn't make her fall to the ground this time. "Oh, sorry, Ashiya. Didn't see you there."

"Hey! Heh, I thought I was going to be on the floor again, like always," she replied. "What's up?"

Sano shrugged. "Nothing. Just gonna finish cleaning from the morning and lunch customers. Wanna eat something together? I'm hungry."

Mizuki blushed a little and nodded in excitement. "Sure! I'll just finish my cleaning first and get changed. I'll meet you on the front porch in 20 minutes.

They both nodded in agreement and headed in their separate ways to finish their chores before they were going to eat something together...almost like a date.

The 20 minutes went by pretty slow for Sano and Mizuki because they couldn't wait to see eachother and spend time together. However, everybody else worked hard and was done before them.

"Who wants to go down to the beach for a few hours?!" yelled Io from her bedroom down the hall from the kitchen.

As soon as the word "beach" was said, everybody jolted to their rooms, changed into their swimsuits, and were waiting outside by the van/truck/vehicle that Io owns. By then, Mizuki was sitting on the bench on the front porch, waiting for Sano to meet her for something to eat.

"What are you doing, Ashiya? Aren't you going to the beach with us?" Nakatsu asked, followed by Nakao.

Mizuki shook her head. "Sorry, guys. I'm tired and I don't think the beach will make me feel like working again tonight when the evening customers come in. Sano and I are going to stay here and grab something to eat in the area."

Nakatsu was furious at the fact that Sano and Mizuki would be able to hang out together, but not with him. He sighed and just let it slide. "Ok, if you say so. We'll bring something back for you as a souvenir."

"Haha, thanks, Nakatsu! We'll be waiting."

At that time, Io emerged from the doorway with her big luggage bag with all her beach-equipped items in it to attract the hott, young, studly guys. "Come on, guys! It's time to go!" As she passed the bench that Ashiya was sitting on, she looked at her with a confused face. Mizuki just smiled and said, "I'll be staying here with Sano."

Io laughed and winked at her. "Now, Ashiya, don't do anything I wouldn't do, ya hear?"

Mizuki blushed and laughed. "Come on, that won't happen!" she exclaimed. _"Well, that would be awkward if it did."_ Mizuki then imagined herself entangled in Sano's arms, lost in his kiss with no clothes on, making sweet love for eachother. The whole time she was thinking this, her face was getting redder and more like a cherry, until Io yelled her name. "Mizuki!" She then snapped out of it and stared at her confused.

"We'll be back by 4. If you need anything, the list of emergency phone numbers are in the kitchen on the inside of the door for the first cupboard on the left. See ya later!" As everything was loaded into the vehicle, Mizuki was left to watch them have so much energy to go to the beach. She thought of what her and Sano could do from now until when they got back. It was a little after 1 and there was a small family-owned restaurant down the long path that lead from the city to Io's restaurant.

The van/truck/vehicle that Io owns was full with all her employees except Sano and Mizuki. As they drove away, Nakatsu and Nakao waved to Mizuki as they got farther and farther away. Sekime and Noe were full of energy and singing some wierd song in the van/truck/vehicle that she couldn't hear because the windows were up. Her guess was it was something about getting to see girls.

Speaking of girls, Julia, Rio and their friends were at the beach by this time, too. Of course, none of the guys knew that until they got there and saw them. Oh, and Minami was there too, bothering Julia.

Back at the restaurant, Mizuki waited just a little longer and then Sano finally emerged from the doorway that lead into the restaurant. His hair was still damp and looked very sexy in Mizuki's perspective. She couldn't help but sit there in awe.

"...uki...Mizuki! What are you doing, silly?" Sano asked her as he leaned in and waved his hand in front of her eyes.

She snapped out of her daydream and smiled to him. "Nothing. You just look really cool right now."

"I do?" he asked. He never really knew how to make himself look cool because he wasn't good with getting girls attention, or he never paid attention to _trying_ to get a girls attention.

Mizuki nodded excitedly. Suddenly, huge growls came from the pits of two starving stomachs that were dying for food. The two looked at eachother, blushed a little bit from embarassment and laughed. "Well, should we find somewhere to eat?" Sano asked.

She nodded and offered the place down the path towards the city. Sano agreed.

Mizuki stood up from the bench and they started walking the trail that was filled with lots of scenery including designed bushes, benches to rest, monuments of different kinds, and other things. She couldn't help but say "wow" at almost every little thing she saw.

As this continued for the first 4 minutes of the walk, Sano couldn't help but blurt out, "You know you sound like a girl right now, right?"

Mizuki looked at him quickly. "Do I really? Gosh, I never realized." She thought about how she had acted and then it snapped into her brain. "I can't believe I didn't notice earlier."

Sano laughed and bumped into her softly, jokingly. "It's ok. As long as nobody is around, it doesn't really matter. I can keep your secret for you, but in exchange for something, of course."

"Ok," she laughed and bumped back into him softly, teasingly. She then thought about what he just said and looked at him. "In exchange for something? Like what?"

Sano stopped Mizuki by turning her towards him. He looked into her eyes seriously and he could see that her face was starting to turn a little red. He laughed a little and started, "The 'something' I'm talking about is you."

He leaned in a bit, feeling his blood pressure rise from nervousness and he could see that Ashiya was going to explode a blood vein through her face seeing as how red it was and closed his eyes, Mizuki following suit, until his lips met something very soft, like his own, but softer. Mizuki couldn't help but tense up but quickly relax as soon as his lips touched hers. Neither of them wanted to move. They wanted to be in this moment forever, but for some reason, Mizuki backed up just slightly, making their lips part, and Sano was confused. Both of them were beat red and neither wanted to say anything, but they smiled to eachother and Mizuki hugged him around the stomach, seeing as how he was so tall, it would be hard for her arms to get around his neck that easily. Sano wrapped his arms around her shoulders to hug her back for a few seconds. Then, suddenly, another growl came from Mizuki's stomach, followed by a growl from Sano's. They looked at eachother and laughed with slight blushes on their faces.

"Shall we go and get something to eat now?" Sano asked.

Mizuki nodded and smiled to him. She released her hug grip and then grabbed around his left arm as they walked down the path towards the city.

Meanwhile, from the shadows of the scenery, somebody was watching the "couple" and, for some reason, was very upset. Apparently, this person was Gil.

"Hey, I can see the restaurant," Mizuki stated as their walk down the path split and went in two directions: one towards the city and one towards a small restaurant that Mizuki was talking about.

Sano nodded and the two continued their walk towards the restaurant. As they took each step, a sneaky figure would creep his way

From the shadows of the scenery, there was a person who was spying on them on their own accord. He didn't seem to be very please with either Sano or Mizuki, and would throw a fit if he were to see them together for much longer.

After another five minutes of a walk, they finally arrived at a small restaurant that looked just big enough to house about 3 people, two being the husband and wife and one being their child. Sano opened the door for Mizuki and then followed behind her. They were seated immediately and ordered their food right away. While waiting for their food, they talked about their hard day of work earlier and what they thought would happen later that night. Then, the food came. They ate somewhat quietly, but Mizuki couldn't help but try to keep a conversation. She was just so excited and hyper.

Their meal was finished and they asked for their check, which was given to them right then. Sano paid for it, of course (since most men should pay for a meal). Sano then told her that he had to use the restroom quick and told her to stay at the table. She nodded in agreement.

Sano rose from his chair and headed to the restroom, did his business, washed his hands, and then returned to the now-empty table. He wondered where she went. He specifically told her to stay right there.

_"Oh, crap! What am I going to do? Where did she go? Crap crap crap!"_ he thought to himself. His waitor that took his order came by and was clearing off the table that they dined at. "Excuse me, sir. Do you know where the girl that I was dining with went?"

The waitor looked at him, somewhat confused. "I'm sorry, sir. I thought I saw her leave the restaurant with you, but it must not have been you. The guy she left with was wearing a hat and more...gangster-like clothes."

_"Gangster-like clothes...hat..."_ he thought, _"who could it be...?"_ Then it hit him._"Shit! As soon as I get my hands on that asshole, I swear I'm going to tell him never to touch her again!" _he thought as he ran out the door and then looked around, trying to see where they might have gone.

Meanwhile, Mizuki was thinking, _"Ohmigod! Sano is going to kill me!" _She looked at the guy that was walking with her.

"Um, where are we going, Gil?" she asked.

He was silent and looked very upset. Obviously, she could tell this because she knew him well enough when she lived with him for a while. She knew he had something on his mind and she couldn't say anything to change it, so she kept quiet.

The two walked a ways down the path and then turned onto a small, secret path that most people didn't know about. Not many people would notice the small trail that lead from the main path because they would be paying too much attention to the scenery. Gil had a hold of Mizuki by the arm and pulled her gently but forcefully towards a small shack that was in the middle of nowhere. This shack was an old, run-down, rusty, ancient fixture that looked to be about, roughly, 70 years old. It was definitely dirty inside since it wasn't used at all.

"Wh-what is this place, Gil? I'm scared," Mizuki cried. Gil stopped a little before the doorway to enter the small shack and looked at her.

"Ashiya, you shouldn't go for that Izumi guy. He's not right for you," he stated bluntly.

Mizuki was shocked by this. She didn't know why he was telling her this. "W-what do you mean, Gil?"

Gil sighed softly and looked her in the eyes. "Ashiya, you shouldn't waste your time on that guy. He'll tell everybody about you and what you did and you'll live the rest of your life in misery and guilt. I say you give up on him and go for me, instead."

Her eyes widened at this. She slightly blushed, now knowing that Gil was interested in her, after so many years ago when she had a crush on him. What could she tell him? How would she tell him? She didn't say a word. All she could do was stand there and think about her huge plan and how it would be ruined by the guy that she fell in love with and made the plan for. Tears started rolling down her cheeks and she quickly covered her face with her hands to shield her face to anyone.

"Don't cry, Ashiya. I didn't mean to make you cry, but you have to think about what might happen in the future," he said. He pulled her towards him and embraced her in a gentle, friendly, and passionate hug. Mizuki wept a few tears while in Gil's arms.

At that time, Sano was heading back towards Io's restaurant, following the same path that they used to find the other restaurant towards the city and came across a pin that said "Mountaineer" on it. Sano immediately remembered when Mizuki told him about how Gil was a traveler and explorer and liked to climb mountains. Next to where he found the pin was the small trail that lead to Mizuki and Gil, but Sano wasn't sure where it lead to until he got there just a minute later.

When he arrived near enough to see the shack, he saw two people standing in front of the doorway: one short girl with short hair and a tall guy with a hat and "gangster-like clothes". He then noticed that the two were a little too close to eachother, which made Sano's heart jump and his mood furious. As soon as he started rushing towards the two, he saw that the man had pulled the girl away from him and leaned in and had made lip contact with the girl. This made Sano more upset, jealous, and depressed at the same time. He couldn't stand the sight of seeing the girl that he loved get kissed by another man, especially the guy that he hated the most. As soon as Gil removed his lips from Mizuki's, he looked up in Sano's direction and smiled evilly.

_"Asshole," _Sano thought in his head.

_"She's mine now, Izumi Sano," _Gil said to himself.

_"Ohmigod!"_ Mizuki thought.

* * *

Chiyo: There, I'm done! It only took me a total of about...eh, 7 hours to write this chapter because I didn't have any thoughts on what to put in the chapter. I had to end it this way.

Alex: Well, the sooner you get it done, the sooner you can see me.

Chiyo: I know! Yay!

ChiyosSis: Shut up. What's gonna happen in the next chapter?

Chiyo: Who knows? If you think Mizuki should push Gil away and run back towards the restaurant and bump into Sano, leave a review. If you think Izumi should run in on them and have a fight with Gil, leave a review. If you think Mizuki should stay with Gil and forget about Sano, leave a review. If you have any ideas, please R&R!!!!!!!! Thanks everybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	9. Ending it all Final Chapter

Chiyo: Okie dokie, so this is an exciting time for me and you!!! I am getting a house with my boyfriend, Alex, whom I am still dating, and you all get to read a new chapter! Yay! I kind of got bored the other night and I thought, 'Hmm, I should check out my fanfic,' so I did, and now here I am, writing the next chapter

Alex: It is definitely exciting.

Chiyo: Definitely. Oh, and thank you to the few individuals who left reviews about what they thought should happen next in my story. I guess you'll have to start reading again to find out what happens. Dun dun dun!!!!

Disclaimer: ChiyoTenshi does not own or rent the rights to Hana-Kimi. Someone should give it to her as a house-warming gift, though. That would be nice. *hint hint*

* * *

Previously…

"Don't cry, Ashiya. I didn't mean to make you cry, but you have to think about what might happen in the future," he said. He pulled her towards him and embraced her in a gentle, friendly, and passionate hug. Mizuki wept a few tears while in Gil's arms.

At that time, Sano was heading back towards Io's restaurant, following the same path that they used to find the other restaurant towards the city and came across a pin that said "Mountaineer" on it. Sano immediately remembered when Mizuki told him about how Gil was a traveler and explorer and liked to climb mountains. Next to where he found the pin was the small trail that lead to Mizuki and Gil, but Sano wasn't sure where it lead to until he got there just a minute later.

When he arrived near enough to see the shack, he saw two people standing in front of the doorway: one short girl with short hair and a tall guy with a hat and "gangster-like clothes". He then noticed that the two were a little too close to each other, which made Sano's heart jump and his mood furious. As soon as he started rushing towards the two, he saw that the man had pulled the girl away from him and leaned in and had made lip contact with the girl. This made Sano more upset, jealous, and depressed at the same time. He couldn't stand the sight of seeing the girl that he loved get kissed by another man, especially the guy that he hated the most. As soon as Gil removed his lips from Mizuki's, he looked up in Sano's direction and smiled evilly.

_"Asshole," _Sano thought in his head.

_"She's mine now, Izumi Sano," _Gil said to himself.

_"Ohmigod!"_ Mizuki thought.

* * *

The old shack that was behind the scene was crackling and shaking from even the softest wind that was blowing, which made it quite unstable. These sounds made it difficult for Mizuki and Gil to hear the growls that Sano was emitting. If any sort of sudden movement within the building were to occur, it would more likely collapse.

Mizuki was completely shocked, if you didn't know that already. What she wanted to do was not what her body wanted to do. She kept telling herself, _"Run, run, Mizuki"'_ but her body wouldn't move. All she could do was stand there, blood red in the face, staring up at the one man that she used to love at one point in her life when she thought she didn't need anyone.

Gil turned from looking towards the small pathway from which they entered the secret area with the small shack and face Mizuki with sincere, kind eyes, almost too soothing, as if they drew all existing strength and ideas from her and entrapped them in an endless universe.

"_Why now,"_ she thought. _"Why didn't he say anything sooner?" _There were so many ideas that she thought of, but nothing that she could think would match what he said next.

"I've always thought about you, day and night. When I first met you, I thought you were spoiled; even unfaithful. I guess it goes to show how loyal you can be when you put your heart towards something you care about."

As he said these things, all the thoughts that ran through Mizuki's head started to disappear into the endless universe. Her eyes gazed up at Gil as he held her in his arms ever so gently as if they were about to close the gap between their lips. However, that never happened because there was one person who would stop it no matter what.

As Gil started nearing Mizuki and pulling her closer for a passionate kiss that would mean the world to him, Mizuki snapped out of her thoughts when she thought about what he had said previously about thinking about the future. She quickly thought about how she was so in love with Gil at one point in her life, but then things changed, and she needed to move on to someone else. The future, in her perspective, was one that she had already imagined with Sano, or at least tried imagining with Sano. However, she also imagined supporting and being with Gil in the past, so that could still mean they may be able to be together once again.

As she thought about this, her eyes started swelling up with tears and confusion that she didn't know what to do or who to choose, and her arms, instinctually, softly pushed Gil further from her, leaving him not only confused as well, but very upset. So upset, actually, that he wanted to change her mind no matter what. His last option was something she never expected to happen.

Gil softly grabbed Mizuki's hand and led her towards the small trail that leads from the main pathway to the run-down shack. "Come on out, Sano," said Gil.

Mizuki gasped, not knowing if Sano was watching the whole time or not. Her footing was a little more slow, stiff and very cautious to see Sano's facial expression. She wasn't sure if she wanted to face him just yet or not. Of course, body moving before the mind in Mizuki's case, her head turned away from them both. She didn't dare face either of them at the moment because she hadn't made any decision at all. She couldn't.

Sano stepped out from behind a large shrub and stood just a few feet from them, of course, very upset with Gil because he kissed the one girl that he loved. Gil let go of Mizuki's hand and stood near Sano, arms crossed. "Ashiya, who do you love?" asked Gil. Sano stayed silent, though angry, knowing that this was a now-or-never ordeal that he wanted to have solved right now, so no more problems would happen in the future.

However, Ashiya, still facing away from the two, could _not_ turn to face them, no matter how hard she tried. She couldn't decide just yet. Her mind was running wild with thoughts.

"_Why wouldn't Sano stop us? Why was he waiting for me to make my decision,"_ she thought to herself. _"Wait, if I chose him over Gil, then maybe Gil would think of an evil plan to erase Sano's memory of me and bring me back to America with him…or maybe Sano is making it seem that he will protect my secret just so he can spill the beans later, leaving me to choose Gil because Sano would seem unfaithful. Or maybe Sano set this up with Gil…somehow…or maybe they've got a bet or something….argh!"_

All these thoughts were making her much more confused, that she didn't even want to think about choosing one or the other. She just wanted to be alone for as long as she needed with no interruptions to think.

Body-over-thoughts again, Mizuki rushed towards the shack, unknowing of why her body had decided that the old place would be safe for a little while. Being a star runner at Osaka High, she easily outran Sano and Gil, who, as soon as she started running, took off after her (pretty much racing each other in the process). She pulled open the wooden door with ease but when she closed it from within, the force to keep it shut and place a board to keep it locked made the shack sway a bit and make multiple crackling and popping sounds.

Sano and Gil stopped about 5-feet short of the entrance to the shack because they saw how unsteady the building really was from the outside. Mizuki's thoughts were much louder in her head than the sounds of anything else around her, including the sounds of a breaking building. The soft winds that blew through the small opening of the field made it even less stable than ever, and both the guys started worrying about Mizuki, who was in deep trouble by this time.

"I'm going to need your help, Gil," stated Sano.

Gil looked at Sano with both guilt and anger in his eyes, but as he looked back at the building that would soon crush his one love, he accepted his offer for help. The two decided that they were going to walk into the building as slowly as possible together and confront her with as much ease as possible. They also agreed that Sano would do the talking because Gil had done enough previously. As they nodded to each other, motioning the signal to go, they took every step with as much ease as possible, hoping that the building would not collapse while in mid-sentence inside the shack.

I know I didn't state it earlier, but the shack is quite small, but made of very heavy and durable wood. It was the size of a small hut for fishing, gardening and hunting gear, so if I were to give a rough estimate on a size, it would measure about six-foot wide by five-foot deep. The ceiling was about seven-feet high with a few sharp objects like gardening shovels and fishing rods. It would definitely not be good if it suddenly collapsed with anyone inside, seeing as how these sharp and dangerous objects could take a life so easily.

As Sano and Gil approached the building with caution, they could hear Mizuki softly whimpering and letting out soft mumbles as if she were trying to think of what to do. Normally Mizuki is a very energetic, outgoing, and happy person, but when two people whom she loves are fighting for her love and she is the one to make the final decision, she couldn't look back after this.

Sano softly grabbed the door handle and tugged it ever so softly. After realizing that Mizuki had blocked the door with a board, they knew they had to think quickly as to how to get in without disturbing the shack's structural holding.

Gil softly whispered to Sano, "There's no other entrance to the shack, we can't get in unless we destroy the walls."

"That's not an option, Gil. You don't want Mizuki to get hurt, do you?" asked Sano with an extreme amount of anger in his voice, but he stated it ever so softly so Mizuki did not hear.

Gil said nothing but looked away with embarrassment. Of course he didn't want Mizuki to get hurt, but he couldn't think of anything else to say at the time.

Both of the guys thought as quickly and as thoughtfully as they could, trying to think of a solution to get Mizuki out of there. Each second they thought, the creaks and cracklings of the shack's wood grew louder and more intense.

Sano's worrying grew more and more until he couldn't take it anymore. He told Gil to go on the left side of the entrance and he would go on the right side of the entrance and hold the building up for a short bit. As they did this, Sano pressed himself against the shack gently and started speaking to Mizuki with a heartfelt, kind voice, but not too fast because he did not want to scare her too suddenly and ruin the rescue plan..

"Mizuki, I know you can hear me. Please listen to what I have to say, because if you don't listen to me, you are going to get hurt, and neither of us want to see that happen."

As he stated this, Mizuki's thoughts stopped. She was thinking about how she would hurt either of the guys both mentally and physically if she told one or the other that she wants to be with him, but knowing that _she_ was in danger absolutely stopped her mind in its tracks.

"The shack that you are in right now is very unstable. Gil and I are trying to keep it stable until you get out. Please think fast but move slowly, otherwise it will collapse."

The guys could hear Mizuki inside standing up because the boards beneath her feet started to crackle as she stood and took a few steps. It felt like the world was ending and their only option was to save Mizuki, no matter what. Then the footsteps stopped.

Gil and Sano tilted their bodies to look around the corner of the shack at each other with worry in each of their eyes. A second after they made contact with each other, they heard Mizuki weeping inside.

"I can't do it! I'm scared!" exclaimed Mizuki as she cried into her hands. "I don't want to get hurt and I don't want you two to get hurt in order to save me. I don't want to fight with anyone anymore."

Gil, anxious for Mizuki to be safe in his arms, started trying to calm her down. "Mizuki we do not want to fight with you or even against each other. If you want time to think about this situation, you have as much time in the world to think. I will honor that, and I'm sure Sano will, too. Right, Sano?"

Sano nodded towards Gil and finished what Gil had started. "He's right, Ashiya. We will give you as much space and time as you need to decide. We are in no hurry, after all. We are strong, mature, young and proud of it."

They boys stood there for a few seconds hoping for a reply, but nothing happened. After a few seconds, they heard a few more footsteps. Gil and Sano sighed softly with relief. After a few more seconds, they heard the board that was blocking the entrance slide up and set on the floor. They knew that Mizuki would be opening and walking out of the shack in a few seconds with red eyes that would make them both feel so bad for what they did, even though it was technically not their fault that she fell in love with both of them, at different times, of course.

They decided to give her as much space as possible as soon as she opened the door so she could think. But she made a request just before opening the door.

"Um…would you two…walk me back to Io's with me?" she asked, whimpering and sniffling.

The two leaned around the corners of the building to look at each other and nodded in agreement. They did not really like each other as it is, but if it made Mizuki happy, that's all that mattered to them.

"Yes, Mizuki," stated Sano. "We'll both walk you back to Io's."

As soon as he stated that, the door opened and Mizuki's eyes were a dark pink from crying, but her facial expression said otherwise. She was smiling and almost too happy, as if she hadn't seen the two boys in years. The shack was still swaying slightly, but as soon as Mizuki exited it, Gil and Sano let go from their posts, knowing she was safe.

Mizuki took a few long glides away from the shack to make sure she was at a comfortable distance, soon followed by Sano and Gil. As Mizuki turned around to face the guys, they were completely shocked by her mood swings, almost as if the previous incident had never happened.

They all looked at each other, both Gil and Sano still noticing the redness of her eyes, but they all decided to head back towards the restaurant as soon as possible. Mizuki was trying to keep the mood comfortable for all of them while ensuring that nothing too personal came up. Of course, Gil and Sano were particularly careful about stating anything that may upset Mizuki.

They talked about the bugs and how Mizuki hated bugs with a passion, but Gil kept pestering her by taking a spider or lady bug from a nearby tree and holding it in front of her. She screamed and made a big fuss each time this happened, but everyone was happy, at least for now.

To Sano, this was the longest walk with Mizuki he had ever had, not only because Gil was with them or that he wasn't talking much, but because he knew that Mizuki was upset and he was trying to think of things to make her less upset and any way he could win her heart.

As they approached the restaurant, they noticed that not Io and the rest of the crew had not yet returned from the beach. It was only 3:24pm, and Io said that they would be back around 4, so they had a lot more time than they wanted.

The three walked up to the entrance of the restaurant/hotel and Mizuki stood before them in the doorway. She hesitated a little bit, but she knew what she wanted to say.

"I need some time alone, if that is ok with you two," she asked them.

The two guys nodded in agreement. "Anything for you, Mizuki," said Gil. Sano just smiled at Mizuki letting her know that whatever she needed, he would help her to get it or motivate her to get it herself.

Mizuki smiled calmly and then walked inside and went to the room that Sano, Nakao and herself shared, locking the door behind her. Sano decided to stay outside and sit on the bench outside the entrance to the restaurant. Gil, not having anything else to do, asked "Mind if I join you?" Sano shook his head, so Gil sat on the opposite side of the bench.

The two sat in silence for a few seconds which seemed like forever, but after a while, Gil spoke up.

"I don't remember if I told you the story as to how Mizuki and I met, but here goes. She ran away from home once before, and we met while she was traveling alone. I let her stay at my house for a little while until she decided to leave. At first, she seemed extremely spoiled and greedy for what she wanted at the time, so I liked to tease her about what she couldn't get."

Sano didn't quite understand why he was telling him this, but he stayed silent and listened to his story.

"After a while, I started to think about the real reason that I was teasing her. I realized that men like to tease or torment girls that they like. I soon came to a conclusion that I liked Mizuki. I know it's been a few years since we've actually seen each other and officially hung out, but I knew that I would some day find her again. I traveled the world to see the greatest sights and visit the greatest heights possible all to show her that I would go to the top of the world just to be with her. She knew that I was a mountaineer, and she respected me for that. I wanted to stop doing what I love doing just to be with her, but that wouldn't satisfy me. I want to continue to travel and climb mountains."

"So are you telling me that your hobby is more important than your feelings for her?" asked Sano.

Gil shook his head gently. "Of course not. She is the most important asset in my life, and always will be. I just couldn't stand being away from her most of the time while I'm traveling. I'm sure she wouldn't be able to deal with that, either."

The two both were silent again for a few seconds, but then Gil leaned towards Sano and whispered something very quietly. He also passed him a note that was folded up very neatly. Gil then stood from the bench and walked upstairs to his room.

Sano then sat on the bench a little longer with the note still in his hand. He didn't dare read it, since it wasn't meant for him. He tucked the note into his left front pocket of his pants and just enjoyed the weather and scenery that was brought to him. The sun was shining so brilliantly against the water of a small fountain that Io had placed near a small pond area by the restaurant, the sound of nature was so soothing to him that it seemed as if he were in a trance.

A few minutes passed, and his trance of the wilderness was cut off by Io's van/truck/vehicle pulling into the parking lot with a wild group of teenagers. Sano was happy to see them, though his expression didn't show that. He always had a difficult time showing expressions to others.

As Io stopped the van/truck/vehicle, everyone started piling out with all their belongings that they brought with them and bringing them into the restaurant. Nakatsu was one of the first to pass Sano on the way in, and he handed him a seashell that he found while swimming, and told him it was the souvenir he got for him. Sano laughed lightly and thanked Nakatsu as he went to clean up from the salty water and sand he had gotten in his hair. Everyone else, which includes Nakao, Noe, Sekime, and Io seemed so energy-less and rundown from the long day of work and then using so much energy to attract some attention from girls, guys, or their biggest crush at the beach. They sluggishly dragged their feet into the restaurant without even noticing that Sano was sitting right beside the entrance.

Sekime and Noe were mumbling about how the girls they were hitting on said they each had big noses and that their hairdos were not very modern. Nakao was sad because he didn't get to spend any quality time with Nanba because he was too busy hanging around Julia. Io had attracted too many young, hott, studly guys from the beach that she had run herself out of energy from talking too much, modeling, and other reasons.

From inside the restaurant, Mizuki heard everyone return from their trip, so she walked into the dining area and greeted everyone as they got back. As soon as they all saw her burst of happiness, they were immediately cheered up and at least 50% more full of energy for the night.

Although it didn't show, Mizuki had spent a lot of time in the room thinking about the events that were happening between her, Gil and Sano. She wanted to get done with the evening dinner rush at the restaurant and close before confronting the two about her decision.

As everyone who went to the beach each took a shower and got ready for the evening shift, Mizuki and Sano met while sweeping the outside porch of the restaurant. They smiled to each other and Mizuki softly said, "later" as she walked past him sweeping the rest of the porch that Sano missed. Sano didn't know what that meant exactly. He thought that maybe she would give her answer as to who she chose later tonight. He also thought that she was going to give him a 'special treatment' later tonight because she chose him. He blushed at this, and of course got very excited. He quickly shook his head and cooled his head from his thoughts. He knew he should not get excited about anything as important as this yet because she had not officially made her decision. The porch was completely clean, thanks to Mizuki's awesome sweeping techniques, so he went inside and started setting up tables.

Nakatsu soon met Sano in the dining room and helped him set up the tables as well. While they were setting up, Nakatsu had the urge to ask, "So what did you and Mizuki do while we were away?"

Sano paused. He couldn't admit the fact that he and Gil were fighting over the love from Mizuki when Nakatsu himself was (kinda still is) in love with her (him, in Nakatsu's eyes) as well. "We took a walk into town to grab some lunch and looked at some scenery on the way back."

Nakatsu looked at Sano with questionable eyes as if he thought Sano were lying to him, but from anyone, it looked as if Sano were _actually_ telling the truth because of how straight his face was and how honestly he stated it. Nakatsu laughed and smiled. "Awesome, dude. You really should have come down to the beach with us. There were so many girls down there!" he bragged.

Sano shrugged. "I've always been the female-attraction whenever I go somewhere with you guys. I don't think I need to draw any more attention to myself than I already have," he joked.

They both laughed and finished their table setting while blabbering some more about random things that came into mind.

It was 5pm and the restaurant was open again for dinner. Customers flocked in from the hotel rooms and from cars parked outside. Everyone was busy as usual and excited about the new people they would meet tonight.

**A few hours later…**

Nakatsu was cleaning up the last table that was dining in and Mizuki closed and locked the front door to show that they were closed. Everyone got the cleaning chores done in the dining room and was helping to clean the dishes in the kitchen. They even turned the radio on in the kitchen to raise the motivation level so no one was feeling uneasy at all, even though they were all friends. Mizuki was washing the dishes, Nakao was rinsing them, Nakatsu was drying them, and Sano was putting them away.

Sekime and Noe were still collecting the dishes from the room services so they could not help at all. Even after running all the dishes down to the main level was a big use of muscle and energy that they had no motivation to help clean dishes after that.

Everyone finished a lot sooner than they had hoped because they all worked together to get everything done. They even did a little cheer that they learned from Osaka High when a team did something awesome. After they made sure that everything was cleaned, straightened, and all the lights turned off, they each headed towards their designated bedrooms to change into more comfortable clothes. The only two who stayed in the kitchen were Sano and Mizuki, because Mizuki tugged on Sano's apron before he started walking away.

After making sure that everyone had left the kitchen, she asked Sano if there was a way that they could meet outside by a big rock that was in front of the restaurant for design. They agreed that they would each clean up and then meet by the rock. Sano headed to the room first to shower and change quickly.

While he was cleaning up, Mizuki went to Io's room, hoping she was there. She knocked softly. "Who is it?" Io asked from the other side of the door.

The door opened and revealed an astonished Io who was so happy to see Mizuki. She showed her in and closed the door behind her. "What's on your mind, dear?" she asked Mizuki.

Before Mizuki could start talking, Io interrupted her with a quick question. "Did you and Sano do anything…peculiar…while we were away?"

Mizuki's head jolted up and blushed. "N-no, of course not. I mean, we only went out for lunch, and then an old friend—" she stopped mid-sentence. Io was confused by this. Mizuki didn't know how to tell Io that she was in a love triangle.

Io rested her hands on Mizuki's shoulder gently. "I'm not sure what exactly happened while we were away for a few hours, but I can tell that you are strong and you can make your own decision, and it will be the best decision you have ever made yet." She smiled kindly to Mizuki, ensuring her that no matter what was wrong, everything would turn out fine.

Mizuki smiled back at Io. "I guess you're right. I should make this decision on my own." She hugged Io for helping her make a very small decision. "Thank you, Io."

"You're welcome, Mizuki. Now go out there and give 'em what you got!" she exclaimed.

Mizuki laughed and then walked out the door with her head held high. Every time Mizuki went to Io for a problem, it made Io feel more and more like she was Mizuki's own mother. She was so proud of her and hopes that her real parents are, too.

The hallway was empty, but Mizuki went to her room to take a quick shower and change so she could meet Sano by the rock as soon as possible. It took her about 7 minutes to shower, dry up and put some clean clothes on before she left the room. As she walked down the hallway to meet Sano, she couldn't help but feel more and more nauseous because she wasn't sure if she had made the right decision. She didn't want either of the guys to get hurt, but her heart told her what she wanted.

She opened the front door and walked down the porch towards the big rock where she found Sano sitting on the very top of the rock, which was about 4 feet off the ground. Sano saw her coming, so he quickly jumped down to be at a comfortable speaking level with her.

"Sorry for taking too long. Were you waiting a while?" she asked him.

Sano shook his head. "Nope. You're right on time when I expected you."

They both laughed and then Mizuki started her speech. "I've been thinking about this all afternoon. You already knew that, but I just wanted to ask one thing before I make my final decision."

Sano became a little cautious, hoping that the question she was going to ask him would not be too personal or anything of the sort. He was ready for anything, as long as it meant being with her.

"How long will you keep my secret?"

Sano's answer was obvious, but he wanted to make sure that she knew he was telling the truth. "I will keep your secret with me until the day you decide you don't want to keep it a secret anymore, but that means you have to tell me when that happens." He kept his distance from Mizuki the whole time he talked, even though he wanted to just glide at her and pull her down into a passionate kiss, but he knew that would not be the solution to winning her over.

Mizuki smiled. She slowly walked up to him, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him down for a soft, but gentle kiss. Sano was on the verge of not being able to contain himself any longer. With her so close to him, lips touching, arms around him, he wanted her all to himself. However, he just lightly wrapped his arms around her waist and endured the kiss that she had given him.

Their lips soon parted. Mizuki looked up at Sano and smiled again. "I knew my decision long before the dinner rush. I knew that the reason I am here today is because I wanted to be with you. I wanted nothing more than to see your high jump and support you through the rest of your training. If I had not been so enticed by your high jump when I was younger, I never would have come here, therefore never met you. If that would have been the case, I would have chose Gil, but it wasn't. I am here with you, now, so that's the way I want it. Do you mind if I love you?" she asked him.

Sano shook his head and ruffled Mizuki's hair a little. "I would never mind such a cute girl like you, who has spent so much time and effort, to be with me and love me."

The two wrapped their arms around each other again and embraced in a very dreamy kiss that they had both dreamed of having. Their minds were blank. All they wanted was for this moment to last forever, never ending. They broke their kiss a few seconds later.

"By the way, I need to find Gil. I need to tell him about my decision," she said.

As Mizuki started heading towards the restaurant to go into the hotel, Sano grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Gil isn't here anymore. He left early this afternoon."

Mizuki was shocked. "W-why didn't he tell me? How do you know he's gone?"

Sano handed Mizuki the note that Gil had given him earlier. "He gave me this note to give to you. He told me not to tell you because he knew that if I told you, you would try to stop him or ask why."

Mizuki unfolded the note gently and read the letter:

_Mizuki,_

_I know you will make the man you choose very happy. I still want to follow my heart and maintain my love for mountain climbing, but I don't want you to be alone when I am away pursuing my hobby. I know that you might be a little upset that I did not tell you this in person, but I wanted you to be happy. I know you have made the right decision. Good luck in the future._

_Love,  
Gil_

Tears started forming in Mizuki's eyes as she finished reading the letter. She couldn't help but smile, too, knowing that she didn't have to tell Gil that she chose Sano over him.

Sano hugged Mizuki to calm her enough to make her stop crying. They stood there for a few seconds enjoying the moment.

Mizuki pulled away from Sano and looked into his eyes. "I love you, Izumi Sano," she said.

"And I love you, Ashiya Mizuki," declared Sano.

They leaned in and their lips met as they vowed their love for each other in a connection that could never be broken by any natural cause. The two spent the rest of the night stargazing and enjoying the evening scenery.

Their lives would, from now on, be more exciting and fun because they were the happiest couple of Osaka High. Even though they could not announce the fact that they were in love and, technically, dating, they were still the happiest that they have ever been in a long time.

As for the rest of the crew at Io's restaurant, well, their stories go untold as of yet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The End~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* * *

Chiyo: There! Done! I didn't really want this fanfic to end just yet, but as I kept writing and thinking of so many different endings that I could possibly think of, this was, by far, the best one.

ChiyosSis: I can't believe it's over! They are finally together and happy! Thank you for actually writing it that they pronounced their love for each other.

Alex: It is a sad ending for Gil, though. I feel sorry for the guy.

: No more to get on with at this time, huh?

Chiyo: Thanks to everyone for your support and motivation. I appreciate all the reviews that everyone left for me while I was writing my story.

Speaking of which, I am really busy again with a lot of stuff. I'll be graduating college in May this year, I'm currently working at Guitar Center as a sales associate in drums, I'm the lead role in a local play that I'm in, Alex and I got a house, which we'll be moving into by the end of April, and then other hobbies, friends, events and stuff to attend and do! Life is amazing when you forget about the bad stuff. Don't completely wipe it out of your memory. Just remember it as a lesson, but don't let it be a stress-bringer into your personal and professional life.

Thanks again, everyone!!

Disclaimer: This fanfic has officially ended. Thanks for reading. (to Chiyo) Now where's my darn paycheck!?!?!


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